Selective history and hegemony-making: The case of Singapore
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512116677305 |
| Author | Walid Jumblatt Abdullah |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512116677305
International Political Science Review
2018, Vol. 39(4) 473 –486
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512116677305
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Selective history and
hegemony-making: The
case of Singapore
Walid Jumblatt Abdullah
National University of Singapore, Singapore and King’s College London, UK
Abstract
This article attempts to analyze the process of selective history and hegemony-making in Singapore, and
makes the following arguments. Firstly, the birth of the nation-state led the political elites to rely on several
hegemonic ideologies as founding myths, chief of which is the idea of ‘survival’. Secondly, to create and
sustain these ideologies, two things needed to be done concurrently: de-emphasize the Malay-ness of the
nation’s past; and accentuate the racial/religious nature of sources to instability. Finally, the article makes the
claim that these ideologies have been successfully perpetuated, and outlines the contours of this success.
In making these arguments, the article hopes to argue against Singapore ‘exceptionalism’ in studies on
democratization, and further contends that the link between ideas, history and authoritarianism needs to be
considered more seriously.
Keywords
Ideological dominance, hegemony, authoritarianism, Singapore, People’s Action Party, selective history,
single-party rule
Introduction
‘States can easily dominate their subjects physically; but to effectively rule over them – to establish
hegemony over their lives in the Gramscian sense – they must also control their subjects ideologi-
cally – that is, control the cultural underpinnings of their sociopolitical outlook’ (Nasr, 2001: 8).
While Nasr’s observation applies to all states – democratic, liberal or authoritarian – one can put
forth the argument that establishing hegemony was even more imperative for post-colonial states.
Perhaps there have been very few post-colonial states which can boast the success of Singapore in
this regard. The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) government has been in power continuously
since independence in 1965, winning super-majorities in Parliament in each of the twelve General
Corresponding author:
Walid Jumblatt Abdullah, Department of Political Economy, Faculty of Social Sciences & Public Policy, King’s College
London, Strand Building, Strand Campus, London WC2R 2LS, UK.
Email: walid.abdullah@kcl.ac.uk or walid@nus.edu.sg
677305IPS0010.1177/0192512116677305International Political Science ReviewAbdullah
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