The prose of passive revolution: Mobile experts, economic planning and the developmental state in Singapore

Abstract

During the Cold War, a barrage of globally mobile development professionals proliferated throughout the decolonizing Third World to both assist in economic development and to constrain the geopolitical spread of communist-sympathetic regimes. This paper considers a document authored by one such professional, Albert Winsemius, and draws on Antonio Gramsci’s concept of passive revolution to theorize the process of state formation in Singapore. By examining Winsemius’ role in Singapore’s development planning, we demonstrate how globally sourced, ideological anti-communism and transnational economic expertise were inscribed into the institutional structure of the Singaporean state under Lee Kuan Yew and the People’s Action Party. Basing our analysis in a close reading of a key economic planning document, we argue that Winsemius and the Industrial Survey Mission demonstrate a political understanding of state formation rooted in the need to suppress labour strife and maintain political stability. This paper contributes to a more spatially nuanced understanding of East Asian industrialization and state transformation through a theorization of the influence of transnational expertise on an archetypal ‘developmental state’.

The Origins of Urban Renewal in Singapore: A Transnational History

“…As Chris Meulbroek and Majed Akhter argue, economist Albert Winsemius's advice for Singapore to retain the colonial legacy and proscribe the communists similarly helped effect a "passive revolution" that kept the ruling government in power and allowed it to transform the economy. 116 Both proposals were expressly political, exceeding the UN terms of reference for the study. The Abrams team, like Winsemius, was aware of the political implications of their work at a time when the government was battling leftwing opposition.…”

Anxieties of an emerging donor: The Korean development experience and the politics of international development cooperation

“…These authors' comments on cultural performance of various 'models' of East Asian development are pertinent to the approach taken in this article. They point out that there are important emotional and geopolitical dimensions to economic policy and the models upon which it is based (on the latter, see Glassman, 2018;Meulbroek and Akhter, 2019). This has been a subterranean theme in the literature on East Asian development for some time despite its often anti-cognitive understanding of rationality.…”

Exporting Urban Korea?

“…We note that while this recent effort at urban knowledge sharing has the potential for a more reciprocal understanding of East Asian urban development, the self-referential model-building of Korea's knowledge sharing initiatives to date risk replicating the national state-centrism that has so often animated the academic literature and other celebratory narratives of East Asia's rapid economic development (cf. Meulbroek and Akhter, 2019). The story of developmental "success" that is often communicated in these narratives is one, we argue, that risks ignoring the agency of multiple geographical actors in the assembling of Korea's urban development and replicating a primarily productivist narrative of urban development that equates it with physical infrastructure investment and economic growth: for example, along the lines of narratives such as "Korea's modernization efforts were made possible with the construction of multi-purpose dams" .…”