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The Ruling Elite of Singapore

Leadership Beyond Lee

The Ruling Elite of Singapore cover

The Ruling Elite of Singapore

Leadership Beyond Lee

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Pre-order. Available 12 Nov 2026
£17.99 RRP £19.99 Website price saving £2.00 (10%)

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Description

Michael Barr explores the complex and covert networks of power at work in one of the world's most prosperous countries, the city-state of Singapore. Charting the creation of a national elite in the 1950s and its consolidation as the ruling elite in the 1960s, it argues that the contemporary networks of power are a deliberate project initiated and managed by Lee Kuan Yew- former prime minister and Singapore's 'founding father'.

This updated and revised edition extends the narrative to consider recent developments and shifts in power since the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015. From the Lee-family feud to Lee Hsien Loong's prime ministerial succession and the inexorable rise of K. Shanmugam, this book considers what this means for the future direction, character and power structure of Singapore's ruling elite, and what the future might hold for this flourishing and affluent nation.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Forward by Garry Rodan
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Pictures
List of abbreviations
1. History, politics and theory
2. The creation and entrenchment of a national elite
3. Pathways narrow: Lee Kuan Yew emerges supreme
4. The capitalist-technocratic settlement
5. The elite that Lee built
6. Tweaking the elite that Lee built
7. Cabinet in the twenty-first century: Lee Hsien Loong's legacy
8. Technocracy without a Lee: Ruling elite or ruling class?
Final thought
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 12 Nov 2026
Format Paperback
Edition 2nd
Pages 256
ISBN 9781350505445
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Michael D. Barr

Michael D. Barr is Associate Professor in Internat…

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