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Global economic restructuring saw the dramatic expansion of feminised labour and extensive mobilisation of women from less wealthy to wealthier countries to supply reproductive labour. Some migrant women perform unpaid reproductive labour through marriage migration in their roles as wives, mothers and daughters-in-law. The paper seeks to understand the divorce experiences of low-income marriage migrant women in Singapore after their marriage with Singaporean husband has ended. By engaging theorisations on transnational families, the paper discusses the transnational aspects of the women's divorce biographies. Using empirical data collected through in-depth interviews, this article examines how the women work out their transnational divorce biographies in these three areas: one, coping with divorce proceedings and obtaining legal representation; two, working out the rights to remain in Singapore and other livelihood issues; and three, negotiate with ex-spouse over post-divorce co-parenting arrangements. To avoid framing the women's experiences in 'victim versus agent' binary terms, the paper examines both their struggles and strategies using a transnational, intersectional feminist framework. This analytical perspective allows the paper to discuss how unequal effects of globalisation and intersection of the women's social identities shape their divorce trajectories, in terms of the struggles they face and strategies they employ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety knowledge is created, validated, disseminated, and acted upon. It is conflicted, contextual, and contingent. The technology has a history, the knowledge has a history, and how everyday people interact with food safety ideas has a history. Taking three historical examples from Singapore – pure food advertising; anxiety about botulism; and the prohibition of saccharin – this paper suggests that food safety helps us reposition food and globalization. Singapore was, and still is, a step in a long supply chain of comestibles that pass into and through the port, in which the identity and location of the producers is obscured by distance, value adding, and the complexities of global trade. With its early engagement with globalization, Singapore also provides a counter to the view that it is only the contemporary iteration of globalization, with its long supply chains, technologies and the media coverage of these, which makes food both unsafe and feared in the twenty-first century. Drawing on Frederick Cooper's critique of globalization, this paper looks at the way that knowledge and anxieties about food safety in Singapore were informed by international media coverage to suggest that they were discursively globalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to ayurveda, siddha medical practice and use outside India has hardly been investigated. Based on an ethnography of siddha and ayurveda clinics conducted in 2019 in Singapore, and secondarily, in southern Malaysia, this paper analyzes the development of these medicines in terms of adaptations, transformations, and the strategies or avoidance necessary to respond to clients/patients' demands and to fit in with the regulations for traditional medicines. Whereas siddha medicine is well established in Malaysia, it is hardly discernible in Singapore, represented by only two clinics: a long-standing one reflecting the tradition, and a recent one, illustrating the process of modernization impelled by the institutionalization of medical knowledge. The practice of ayurveda, by contrast, has seen a significant expansion since the beginning of the twenty-first century in these two countries, a dynamism impelled by its reputation abroad which has been spurring Indian practitioners to migrate and popularize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish a framework being conceptually able to explain a variety of internationalization strategies and related activities employed by port managing bodies (PMBs), as defined by the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) in 2018, considering their hybrid nature. Having identified a potential to further the existing literature on port policy and strategy in general and port internationalization strategy in specific, the paper examines theoretical frameworks and methodologies from the literature on international business that could be applicable to this field. The main objective is to define a conceptual and analytical framework to examine PMB international strategies, which include both inward and outward steps, also discriminating various internationalization patterns (operating modes). In particular, we investigate if the success (or failure) of PMB outward operations is affected by inward (previous) steps. The contribution tests and validates the proposed conceptual model through multiple embedded case studies, which originate from diverse economic and institutional settings in Rotterdam, Shanghai and Singapore. The paper provides a meaningful insight into discrepancies that could exist in internationalization strategies adopted by conventional business firms and PMBs since they are envisaged to show different trajectories in a number of areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses John Hudzik's (2015) Comprehensive Internationalization as a conceptual framework to examine how two Singaporean universities, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), leverage internationalization as a means to achieving 'world-class' status. Document analysis, semi-structured interviews and campus observations are used to provide a cross-case analysis of the universities' strategies related to partnerships, student and staff mobility, and internationalization of the curriculum. This analysis is placed against the backdrop of wider state policy to explore the relationship between institutional approach and national context. Overall, the findings suggest that a global frame of reference is embedded in the two universities' visions, and internationalization activities are aggressively pursued to achieve those visions. Factors related to each university's approach to comprehensive internationalization are explored in the discussion section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on transnational Higher Education governance has provided a thesis explaining how East Asian states have successfully selectively blended elements of globalisation in Higher Education with their pre-existing regulatory regimes. However, this paper argues that the thesis overlooks the significance of local politics in understanding the formulation of Higher Education policy, thus insufficiently acknowledging the indeterminacy that arises in the globalisation process. To address this argument, this paper examines the transnational Higher Education development in Singapore and Hong Kong and explains how political resistance and corresponding policy changes that emerged in these two societies help reconceptualise transnational Higher Education governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how the elite schools in Singapore have been recontextualising their pedagogical programmes, as the public education system adjusts to the developmental state's balancing act to continue with nation building while remaking Singapore into a global city. The elite schools have been updating their pedagogical programmes to produce the new generation of national leaders and, at the same time, preserve the formally meritocratic system amidst the challenges of internationalisation and increasing inequalities as Singapore globalises. Sociological studies of the reproduction of elites in schools have largely taken their theoretical cues from Pierre Bourdieu. However, the focus on character building, symbolic capital and cultivation of noblesse oblige is not sufficient to account for the educational reproduction of elites in globalising societies, as least for the case of Singapore. Instead, I draw on the works of Basil Bernstein on pedagogic identities to look at the historical pedagogical realignments in four elite schools in Singapore and argue that the focus has shifted to personality cultivation, emotional control and worlding activism. The result is the shaping of affective identities that promise to empower students to navigate and move between the global and local and engage the class inequalities that they contribute to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads congestion pricing has been considered as an effective solution following the successful implementation of such programs by many cities such as Singapore, Stockholm, and London. In multiple cases, congestion pricing projects have not been implemented, and multitudinous industrialized countries' governments are struggling to find an effective and satisfactory way of introducing congestion pricing schemes that will not be affected by the public's negative opinion and resistance. The lack of political and public acceptability can, therefore, be blamed for the nonimplementation of many congestion pricing projects in many cities around the world. This paper reviews eight cases where congestion pricing schemes were implemented or rejected, as well as the major influencing factors that enable congestion pricing introduction and acceptability by road users, discusses public and political acceptance of urban road pricing, and provides a valuable guideline for policy and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-case analysis explores national level internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) policies in Singapore and Japan. Through comparison of the state level internationalisation strategies, this paper aims to highlight how each country's unique policy environment impacts their approach to IoHE. The analysis suggests that despite the differing national circumstances and ultimate approaches to internationalisation, both states use it primarily as a means to stay competitive in the twenty-first century global knowledge-based economy. This suggests that while IoHE does build bridges between nations, institutions, and individuals within and between regions, within these cases it is being driven by nationally-centred rationales. While some criticize a competition orientation in IoHE, even with such rationales it may still serve to drive greater collaboration and integration among East Asian higher education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metaphor of an 'education hub' was initially promoted as also a policy concept for reversing cross-border student flows to the West in both Malaysia and Singapore. The Singapore version of 'Asian education hub policy' represents a distinct economic policy model of higher education which has since also influenced the very Western contexts it was derived from. However, it appears the Singaporeans might have actually borrowed the policy concept from the Malaysians whose aspirations to reverse international student flows to the West was rather aligned to related national capacity development plans as still something of a public good. This paper will use a Malaysia-Singapore contrast to compare distinct developing country (national/regional) vs. developed country (globalised) conceptions of the Asian education hub model. On this exemplary basis, it will also outline an integrated framework to better make sense of the related yet also often conflicting imperatives of privatization, internationalization and marketization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to study the future of the Singapore association of social workers using causal layered analysis (CLA) and the Futures Triangle. In today’s rapidly changing world, professional associations have to re-evaluate their roles to remain relevant. This paper presents an analysis of findings from a study on the level of alliance of social workers with their professional association. By critically examining underlying issues beneath common beliefs held by social workers that impede, promote or sustain change with their professional association, we can gain a deeper understanding into their level of alliance with their association. Insights toward current issues faced by the association as well as its alternative and preferred futures could be illuminated. Design/methodology/approach – Inayatullah’s “Futures Triangle” was used to deepen the findings of the study on the level of alliance of social workers with their professional association from the lens of CLA (Inayatullah, 2004). The study employed interviews with 27 social workers in Singapore, selected through purposive sampling. Findings – Alternative scenarios and preferred futures of the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW) that were postulated from the interviews reinforce a need for more targeted recruitment campaigns. It also calls for regionalization and globalization of SASW to maximize its potentials. Originality/value – The paper suggests how a social work association might be able to reposition its role in relation to its stakeholders to promote and sustain itself. SASW could do so through positioning itself as the “National Geographic” beacon for social workers in Singapore to reach out to the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singapore's post-independence leaders perceived the country's vulnerability in terms of its miniscule size, lack of resources and hinterland, fragile ethnic harmony and geo-strategic location surrounded by larger, and potentially hostile, neighbours. Given such odds, Singapore sought to become a global city by tapping into international flows of goods and trade. Becoming a core node in the global economy also enhanced Singapore's strategic relevance, upping major powers' interest in its survival. However, due to its global connectivity Singapore's exposure to rapidly spreading global risks, such as pandemics and financial crises, has become increasingly noticeable. This paper seeks to uncover a paradox in Singapore's ambition to become a global city as new vulnerabilities emerge from its highly globalized status. Through a discourse analysis of policy-makers' statements and speeches, it reveals that a recurrent theme of perceived vulnerability today relates to the extensive global maritime, aviation and financial flows on which Singapore's continued prosperity depends. The paper concludes that the critical infrastructure that underpin its global connectivity - its airport, maritime port hub and financial centre - can also unwittingly circulate and import global risks such as pandemics, Weapons of Mass Destruction proliferation, financial contagion and terrorist financing, adding a new dimension to how its leaders perceive vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and increased mobilities have multiplied cross-border transactions not only in the economic sphere but have also a major impact on human relationships of intimacy. This can be seen in the increased volume of differently mediated forms of international marriage, not just straddling ‘east’ and ‘west’, but within Asia and across different ethnicities and nationalities. International marriage raises a host of social issues for countries of origin and destination, including challenges relating to the citizenship status and rights of the marriage migrant. This paper examines the negotiation of citizenship rights in the case of commercially matched marriage migrants – namely Vietnamese women who marry Singaporean men and migrate to Singapore as ‘foreign brides’. While they are folded into the ‘family’ – what is often thought of as the basic building block of the nation in Asian societies – they are not necessarily accorded full incorporation into the ‘nation’ despite Singapore's claims to multiculturalism. This is particularly salient at a point when cross-nationality, cross-ethnicity marriages between Singapore citizens and non-citizens are on the increase, accounting for over a third of marriages registered in Singapore in recent years. Vietnamese women who marry Singaporeans are positioned within the nation-state's citizenship regime asdependentsof Singaporean men, having to rely on the legitimacy of the marriage relationship as well as the whims of their husbands in negotiating their rightsvis-à-visthe Singapore state. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic work with 20 Vietnamese women who are commercially matched marriage migrants, the paper first focuses on the vulnerable positions these women find themselves, particularly given difficulties in forging their own support networks as well as weaknesses of the civil society sector in what has been called an ‘illiberal democracy’ characterized by a political culture of ‘non-resistance’. The paper then goes on to examine the way they negotiate rights to residency/citizenship, work and children within webs of asymmetrical power relations within the family and the nation-state. We draw on our findings to show that citizenship is ‘a terrain of struggle’ within a multicultural nation-state shaped by social ideologies of gender, race and class and negotiated on an everyday basis within spheres of family intimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case of Singapore's latest theme park, the Universal Studios Singapore (USS). While theme parks are commonly perceived as money-making entities providing entertainment to the masses, the study argues that heritage is an equally important dimension of a commercial theme park's development, identity and profile. As a heritage-rich environment, the USS is a tourism landscape shaped simultaneously by the forces of corporate heritage and local cultural considerations. ‘Glocalization’ – the interaction of global and local forces – offers a conceptual insight into understanding how themed environments are created and marketed as tourism destinations welcoming to all and yet distinctive to its community and locality. Caution, however, is also sounded as to whether an international attraction can or should ever be ‘too local’ at the risk of diluting its global brand name and broad-based appeal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have the globalisation of real estate and the rise of a transnational class of super-rich homebuyers challenged conventional analyses of local residential property markets? What analytical tools and concepts can we deploy to understand the dialectical tensions between the local and global; fixity and motion as well as the deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation of real estate by the super-rich? Drawing on Singapore as a case study, this paper interrogates the new ‘spatial fixities’ of the super-rich housing market at two inter-related scales of analysis. At the national scale, this spatial fixity could be interpreted in terms of the attempts by the Singapore ‘property state’ to attract high net-worth individuals to reside and invest in the country as a ‘quick fix’ way to boost national capital. At the global scale, this new spatial fixity of highly mobile super-rich can be seen in their territorialisation strategies to constantly seek out new safe havens to physically ‘park’ and grow their wealth beyond the traditional confines of national boundaries. Insofar as these two kinds of spatial fixes both complement and feed off one another via conspicuous real estate development, they also risk colliding and generating social contradictions that may potentially threaten their symbiotic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Films produced since the 1990s revival of Singapore cinema have been interpreted through a historical backdrop consisting of the nation's rapid development, participation in the global economy and authoritarian one-party governance. Film historians have described these texts by relying on discourses associated with globalization and postmodernism. This paper finds the perspective of Singaporean films to have overlooked colonialism as a significant part of Singapore's cultural identity and argues that greater consideration of that history can not only illuminate contemporary films, but also expand film scholarship to include understudied films from Singapore's ‘golden age’ of filmmaking from the 1950s to early 1970s. The history of Singapore cinema should thus be re-periodized. By analyzing the heuristic function of colonial urbanity in films from both eras, this paper explores how spatiality provides a common thread that runs through local experience, identity, culture and cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Prasenjit Duara, the sacredness of the nation hinges on its ‘regimes of authenticity’ where timelessness and the politics of embodiment are key to an authentic national identity. This paper looks at three different cultural impulses that have attempted to manufacture authenticity in Singapore. They are: the Malay literary movement Angkatan Sasterawan 50 prior to independence; the state-sponsored Confucian ethics discourse during the 1980s; and the romanticization of the working-class ‘heartlander’ through contemporary popular culture in confrontation with the politics of global capitalism and globalization. In doing so, this paper articulates the difference between the regimes of authenticity of state elites and non-state cultural producers, as well as their ‘national imaginaries’. It concludes that the regime of authenticity, that operationalizes the representations of the working class as a diametric opposite to the logic and force of globalization, offers the most popular symbols of national identity in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Journal publication is a core avenue for sharing research in the LIS field. Effective scholarly communication is beneficial to the growth of a discipline. Bibliometrics research shows that articles in prestigious international journals are predominantly those of authors based in a few nations, however. Papers from authors outside the established nations are likely to be cited less often. This study analysed the longitudinal changes in geographical patterns of authorship, collaboration types, and factors affecting the citation impact of seven top LIS journals over a period of 29 years. In addition to data from all nations, this paper includes specific findings relating to Asian countries. Analysis of 8,140 papers shows that the internationalisation level in the sample set has increased in terms of number of nations represented and in a decreasing Gini coefficient. The presence of Asian nations such as Taiwan and Singapore as top contributing countries is particularly notable in the past 10 years. Domestic collaboration is found to be the dominant type of authorship pattern. In terms of citation impact as measured by citation counts, logistic regression was used to test the effects of author continent, country income level, collaboration type, publication year, and number of authors. Papers from lower-income countries or from Asian or European authors are found less likely to be 'more cited.' International and domestic collaboration had a positive relation with citation counts. A practical implication is that authors may consider international collaboration as a way to increase the visibility and impact of their research. Nevertheless, the reasons behind such differential citation impact require more exploration. Invisible colleges, the strengths of weak ties, and the geographic scope of a paper are some factors to be further examined. It is hoped that more research can help identify and overcome barriers in scholarly communication so as to achieve a genuine internationalisation of science [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes and analyses how Singapore engages in the global war for talent. The paper discusses how Singapore demonstrates a Foucauldian perspective of ‘governmentality’ in trying to mould citizens into a way of thinking that is geared suitably to an engagement in a global talent war. It first examines the social, political and economic thinking of the government in responding to the talent war. It then analyses more deeply the initiatives in the education system to support the national strategy in competing globally for talent. It also discusses the challenges ahead for Singapore in this talent war. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper interrogates the socio-spatial environment that is emerging in Singapore with its development of a globalised economy. Using the case studies of two of the city’s dichotomised spaces – the spectacular downtown and gentrified heartland – the paper seeks to examine the resulting spatial reconfigurations, challenges and unintended consequences. While the common assertion is that state-led planning is effective at the macro level, at the micro level against the accelerated change and emergence of the multi-layered package of spaces of globalisation, the planning of the city is no longer limited to physical planning. Like many emergent economies of the global south, the challenge of how to expand emerging sectors, support Singapore’s economic aspirations and meet social objectives remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global decline of fertility levels and the retirement of the 'baby boomer' generation of the 1960s and 1970s, multinational companies are competing the world over for talented human capital. With rapid globalization and the increasing importance of the knowledge-based economy (KBE), governments are competing with each other to attract the best and brightest talents. The competition for talented human capital is occurring not only in developed economies but also in the newly industrializing economies of Southeast Asia. Singapore is experiencing very low fertility levels and is unable to produce a critical mass of talented individuals to propel further growth of its KBE despite massive investments in its education sector. Malaysia has a higher level of fertility and larger pool of graduates, but because of inherent constraints, most of its graduates have not achieved the level of competence required to sustain growth in Malaysia's KBE. The aim of this paper would be to compare the state strategies of both Malaysia and Singapore in their quest to attract foreign talent that would enable both economies to develop into KBEs. The paper will compare and contrast the strategy of recruiting foreign talent in Malaysia and Singapore as well as its economic, political and social impact on local talent. Specifically, the paper will examine the recruitment of foreign talent from India, which is one of the largest global sources of talent outflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper views seeking the optimal balance between state strengths and the scope of state functions for 'good governance' as the formation of a homogenization-heterogenization matrix of policy initiatives in different social settings. Homogenization refers to a global tendency for institutional changes and governance framework to change state capacity, while heterogenization refers to the local adaptation of these global transformations. The paper attempts to take educational decentralization as an example of policy initiatives to assess and analyse the significance of the two opposite poses in four East Asian newly industrialized economies (NIEs) (Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Taiwan). The paper's position is that it may be useful to see these four NIEs as making up two clusters. It sees political democratic transitions in Korea and Taiwan as important local factors affecting the developments of educational decentralization in the two societies, while reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore seem to be more consequences of managerial and market values. However, the NIEs face the question of how to maintain sufficient 'stateness' in the decentralization process. To conclude, the paper considers that achieving the balance of 'stateness' is the key to success in state-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization exposes nation-states to both opportunities and challenges. Singapore, an island country, moved from the process of building a nation-state to becoming a global city in the last decade of the twentieth-century. This meant increased migration of people at all levels of the economy to enable Singapore to remain a competitive economy. Though Singapore's economy prospered, its citizens were beset by structural unemployment and increasing income inequality. The Singapore state responded with the twin solutions of maintaining a sustainable economic growth while complementing it with policies to manage inequality. The paper examines the policies that were created in the 1990s to capture the benefits of globalization and the years from 2000 to 2008 during which the entire Singapore population felt the full impact of the challenges of globalization. The paper argues that the Singapore state must invest in its citizens to give them the hope of belonging to a nation to overcome the negative impact of globalization, a scenario in which a strong state like Singapore may survive while it flounders as a nation of hope-filled citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an account of how two classes of primary five students in Singapore engage in the learning of English, Mathematics and Science by playing the role of global citizens, the paper suggests an alternative but realistic approach to teaching global citizenship education. Set against the back story of Atlantis facing ecological, social and cultural decay due to the blind pursuit of prosperity and modernisation by its rulers, each student became a quester called on to save Atlantis. Throughout the mission they were presented with different problems in Atlantis (similar to existing global issues) and were expected to research and suggest solutions to the problems by alone or with fellow questers. These problems were tied to the primary five English, Mathematics and Science curriculum. Through documenting and making sense of these activities via observations, interviews and pre-post questionnaire surveys, the paper shows how the new approach may enhance the learning engagement, academic motivation and social commitments among the students. We also explore the sustainability and scalability of such an approach in the school system and highlight constraints. The paper then draws implications for global citizenship education in schools that include designing a meaningful context for engaged learning in schools with components of global citizenship, developing a research culture in schools as a stepping stone for global citizenship education and building capacity of teachers and school leaders in global citizenship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper revisits the concept of state autonomy in the context of globalization. Earlier literature either considered state autonomy from the social forces in broad institutional and cultural terms or from the dominant classes in a restrictive sense. However, in either case the focus remained on domestic/national society, not the global society. The discussion of relative autonomy of the state began among the Marxists in the 1970s and then graduated into the mainstream social sciences in the 1980s and 1990s. In the upshot, the notions of developmental state and the embedded autonomy have significantly added to our knowledge of the role of the state. This paper broadens the idea of embedded autonomy by locating the sources of embeddedness in both local as well global institutions and norms. The paper uses the Singapore case to illustrate some of the possibilities and limitations of the reconfigured role of the state in the face of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization has influenced the conduct of scientific research in a number of expected and unexpected ways. At the same time the emergence of specific scientific fields has also influenced the texture and trajectory of globalization. In this paper the relationship between globalization and genomics is analyzed. Much like the globalization of traditional manufacturing, genomics research represents a phase of global bio-capitalism. With specific reference to Singapore, the possible social, economic and political effects of the rapid global circulation of scientists, knowledge, capital and DNA are examined in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Singaporeans need not be told what globalization means. The popular media, as well as the political leaders of Singapore, have generated a local-babble of the derivative meanings of globalization. That globalization means #x2018;competitiveness’, innovation' ‘creativity’ ‘entrepreneurship’, and ‘foreign talent’, has become deeply enculturated and embedded in the Singaporean consciousness. This paper will show that the ‘local-babble’ on globalization in Singapore is ineluctably linked to state discourses and practices. I will argue in the paper that these state discourses are not free-floating, but produce teleological and ideological effects to regulate the Singaporean habitus, and create new subjectivities suitable for the new economy. Using Foucault's (1979) notion of ‘governmentality’ and its related concepts and vocabularies, this paper will illuminate Singapore's response to new geo-politico- cultural-economic realities as it continues to live with globalization tactically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores various dimensions of public participation in urban planning in Singapore: the changing nature and attitudes towards citizen participation, the players and methods of participation, and the means of evaluating their impact. Singapore’s urban planning has been characterised by its top-down approach until recent years. In the current context of the global competition, a ‘well-planned city’ no longer equates to a functional and efficient city but also one that supports a good quality of life where citizens could take a more active role in shaping the urban environment. The planning authority is experimenting with various avenues of participation, and refining methods and implementation of the participatory process. In the absence of a robust civil society in Singapore, the planning authority can have a positive role in not only encouraging public participation in planning but also actively convening voluntary citizens to form focus groups to interface between the state and citizens at large. Looking beyond participation processes, this paper will explore some methods and issues involved in evaluating participation outcomes, and make a case for why public participation is set to gain ground and become a permanent feature in Singapore’s urban planning arena. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article examines the process and political economy of defence industrialization in Singapore. The first part of the paper offers a theoretical framework which is used to examine the rationale behind Singapore's defence industrialisation, focusing particularly on the objective of defence production self-sufficiency, or autarky. It goes on to argue that there has been an evolution from mercantilist perspective in the 1960s towards a more liberal approach in the 1990s, especially in the face of defence globalisation. Finally, this paper examines how Singapore's pre-eminent defence firm, Singapore Technologies (ST), has responded to recent developments in the global defence industry, and how these strategic moves can be read as evidence of a shift from its initial mercantilist posture, and even as an abandonment of autarky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes Singapore and the field of international education as focal points for exploring state-market relations under conditions of globalisation. It examines Singapore's ambitions to become an 'education hub' and a provider of international education through the Global Schoolhouse Project. Using an analytical approach from the governmentality school, the paper explores the types of hybrid formations and cosmopolitanism sensibilities arising from both the production and consumption of international education. These cosmopolitanisms and hybridities are read against the geopolitical rationalities that have shaped the Singaporean nation-state. An argument is made for further empirical work into understanding how notions of hybridity are deployed in governance under conditions of globalisation. The Global Schoolhouse Project illustrates the creative and imaginative ways in which the Singaporean nation-state is re-modelling itself in response to the new iterations of global capitalism. The paper highlights the importance of moving beyond zero-sum thinking about the effect of globalisation on the nation-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslims are a politically significant religious minority in Singapore. This is compounded by the fact that an overwhelming number of Malays are also Muslims. This conflation of Malay ethnicity and religious identity has led to assumptions of homogeneity when addressing Islam in Singapore. This paper argues for greater care in understanding Muslims in Singapore. It tries to show how the conflation of ethnic and religious identities is a product of historical and political factors. It explores the growing pluralism within Islam as Singaporean Muslims are exposed to processes of modernization, globalization and Islamization. Ultimately, the paper argues that growing heterogeneity is leading to new tensions in the vertical linkages between Islam and the State in Singapore. New contestations for religious authority are producing pressures to de-link ethnic and religious identity in political representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with an exploration of the notion of the ‘cosmopolitan’—as an ideal, a desirable goal, a dream on the one hand, and its politics, elitism and neo-liberalism on the other. Cast as the humanist counterpart of globalisation, cosmopolitanism has been inserted back into discussions on multicultural societies and emergent civil spaces as these become reconfigured by transnationatism and as the accompanying influx of transmigrants begin to trouble notions of the national self. The paper goes on to contextualise these debates in Singapore, a ‘wannabe global city’. It examines the project of constructing a ‘cosmopolitan’ and ‘creative’ global city in Singapore—a ‘cosmopolis’ and clarifies specifically what ideas and strategies are being invoked by the terms ‘cosmopolis’ and ‘cosmopolitan’, catchphrases which litter government pronouncements on visions and plans for Singapore. The next section of the paper explores the uneasy fit between, on the one hand, the cosmopolitan gloss and, on the other hand, the older stance of multiracialism and the nation-building quest to construct a social fabric undergirded by a carefully calibrated racial arithmetic, a founding ideology which lies at the core of government policies since independence. It is also suggested that some of the elements of cosmopolitanism have its antecedents in the colonial era, although clearly the debates and assumptions (leading to a lack of debate) have shifted considerably. The paper goes on to examine the ‘feel on the ground’ and the extent to which government-inspired and articulated visions of a cosmopolitan future resonate with ground realities. This is achieved by interrogating the politics of inclusion and exclusion in the emergent discourses on cosmopolitanism and the ‘place’ of particular transmigrant groups in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines recent education reform in Singapore launched under the rhetoric of "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation" (TSLN). I will make explicit the context and the premises underlying the new state-initiated TSLN education reform. I argue that the re-alignment of education change is a response to the trajectories of (global) economic conditions, concomitantly framed by (local) sociopolitical and cultural-ideological needs. Next, I tease out and critique the pedagogical problems and contradictions embedded in the TSLN education reform. The paper concludes by asking what critical perspectives can be drawn from the Singapore case vis-à-vis globalisation and education reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 15 years, Singapore has emerged as a major regional production hub for the global electronics industry,, accounting for over 4% of global production and ranking within the top five countries in the world in terms of electronics manufacturing output. This paper traces the growth and transformation of electronics manufacturing activities by foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) in Singapore, and highlights significant differences in the nature of the production networks among global US, Japanese and European MNCs. The paper argues that the success of Singapore owes largely to her ability to leverage the competing but overlapping production networks of these major US, European and Japanese electronics firms to achieve rapid technological learning and industry upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As globalisation becomes more and more familiar in our everyday lives, one readily visible phenomenon is the increasing number of migrants from outside the borders of nation states. This influx of migrants inevitably makes societies more complicated racially and culturally, and a ‘multi-racial’ or ‘multi-cultural’ society is no longer the monopoly of migrant societies such as the United States or Australia. This spread of multi-racial and multi-cultural societies in the world, however, does not mean that we have achieved racial and cultural co-existence (among nationals, and needless to say between host society and migrants) without hierarchies. In the face of a constant flow of migrants, both the host states and host societies need to control migrants, to ensure that migrants will co-exist with the host society as the host society wishes. Hierarchy and difference need to be created and maintained by the host society to control the influx of migrants in their everyday life. This paper explores how Singapore society draws a border between itself and female migrant domestic workers. For this purpose, it examines both everyday discourses of Singaporean employers about female migrant domestic workers and the efforts of the Singapore Muslim Converts’ Association to teach such workers to become ‘good Muslims'. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The industrial revolution followed by globalization and multi-nationalization of businesses has enhanced the need for best practices of corporate governance. This paper examines the influence of corporate governance practices on earnings management. Specifically, the core objective of this study is to test whether the roles of board of directors and other key committees influence Earnings Management (EM) through Discretionary Accruals (DAC). This study has analyzed the governance practices of 326 companies listed in the Singapore stock exchange by using the observations of two years. The structural model linking the corporate governance practices and EM through DAC has been tested using Lisrel 9.1 student version. The key findings of the study are: (1) the chances of recording discretionary accruals are high if the board size is big implying that higher control can lead to better management. These controls must come through appointment of more independent directors for Boards that are big; (2) board independence, segregation of duties between the CEO and chairman, sizes of the audit committee and nomination committee have significant positive influence on board size; (3) the nomination committee influences the remuneration committee directly implying that the motivation for recording discretionary accruals is higher leading to higher possibilities of earnings management; and (4) board size mediates the relationship between corporate governance practices (board independence, segregation of duties between CEO and chairman, audit committee size and nomination committee size) and EM through DAC implying that board size is crucial to effect better control. We accentuate that segregation of responsibilities between the remuneration committee and the nomination committee, when the Board size is big, will reduce earnings management through discretionary accruals. These governance practices will reduce the agony of stakeholders due to broken trust. The findings are pertinent to Asian countries where the institutional investors have a very small role to play. The onus of protecting the minority shareholders and foreign investors are in the hands of insiders. This requires effective corporate governance practices. The regulatory bodies must ensure that the practices of good governance are strictly adhered to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internationalization of higher education has become an important policy and research agenda. At the national level, different countries have responded differently with some countries becoming more open than others. At the local level, universities have also reacted differently with some becoming more liberal and innovative than others. Thus, this paper aims, first, to examine the rationale and policies of the Singapore government in internationalizing its higher education, and, second, to determine the corresponding institutional responses of Singapore educational institutions particularly at the university level. The findings show that government policies have been designed, implemented, reviewed, and adjusted to promote student values and attributes, including intercultural awareness and engagement, competitive edge, and global citizenship, through an internationalized curriculum; to meet the country’s manpower and population requirements; and to promote Singapore as an international hub for education. Singapore universities, in particular the National University of Singapore (NUS), have implemented their programs and activities to promote internationalization at home and abroad. Singapore will continue to internationalize its higher education as national borders become more open and as universities become more competitive and innovative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jogi yuhak(early study abroad) has become a prominent educational and linguistic investment strategy for middle-class Korean families to raise their children as global elites, allowing them to attain multilingual competence through transnational educational migration. Singapore, a newly emerging center ofjogi yuhak, attracts Korean families with its multilingual language learning context. Whilejogi yuhakfamilies aim at attaining elite multilingualism, the actual conditions of educational migration in Singapore mean that the students tend to acquire a ‘truncated’ multilingual competence, including incomplete competence in their own mother tongue. As the discrepancy between the ideal and the reality of language learning leads to a sense of anxiety amongjogi yuhakfamilies, they carefully negotiate their strategies of linguistic investment, varying their investments in different linguistic resources to maximize the effectiveness and profitability of educational migration. Through an analysis ofjogi yuhakfamilies’ strategic patterns of linguistic investment, this paper demonstrates Korean families’ scalar evaluation of the values and functions of languages in their pursuit of multilingualism in English, Mandarin and Korean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes online English-language newspapers from the former British colonies of Kenya, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago with respect to Americanisms in spelling and vocabulary. The guiding question is whether the degree of Americanization can be related to the different degrees to which these countries participate in globalization. It is shown that the influence of American English is least pronounced in Kenya and most in Trinidad and Tobago, with Singapore in between, and that globalization is indeed a factor, but that other factors including official language attitudes play a role as well. The role of international news agencies in disseminating Americanisms is also considered and is found to be prominent mainly in the case of Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier in the Baltic International Maritime Council (BIMCO)/International Shipping Federation (ISF) 2005 report, the issue of seafaring shortage had already been identified as a global issue. The most recent BIMCO/ISF 2010 report still highlights that crewing would be likely a future challenge as continuing tight labour market would lead to recurrent shortages for some officers. In this paper, we aim to explore how the shipping industry and its associated seafaring career can be marketed more effectively to enhance its image and attract and increase the supply of suitably qualified seafarers. Several interviews were conducted with regulatory bodies and ship management companies, followed by a survey with students of nautical studies at Singapore Maritime Academy. It is found that those tangible and intangible benefits attached to an Employer of Choice (EOC) such as salary, bonus, good welfare aboard ships and corporate social responsibility are critical to retain seafarers, while efforts to attract students to the seafaring career right from the secondary level should focus on the employment brand that provides a challenging and unique career, stable income and guaranteed employment. This study suggests that employers with a successful EOC strategy will likely develop a strong employment brand that will increase the levels of recruitment and retention. It is also recommended that the tripartism between maritime governing bodies, training institutions and shipping and ship management companies will be essential to the effective attraction and retention of quality seafarer for the maritime industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue for the deparochialising of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) English A1 curriculum where teachers as curriculum-makers would critically assess text choice and where students have the opportunities to make critical readings and engage in conversations about issues raised by the text. Through the case study of the implementation of one English A1 curriculum in a Singapore school, I demonstrate the possibilities for a cosmopolitan literature curriculum that is attentive to both the global and the local. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its quest to be a world city, many of Singapore’s urban spaces have been subjected to constant redevelopment. Derelict waterfronts and ageing neighbourhoods have been given new life, enjoying their reincarnation as landscapes of economy and leisure. A prevalent theme in Singapore’s transformation has been the reclamation of landscapes to cater to new users, activities and agendas. Adopting a case study of the Singapore River waterfront, this paper analyses three forms of urban reclamation. They include reclaiming functionality, aimed at infusing the waterfront with new land uses; reclaiming access, as a way of opening up the landscape to more people; and reclaiming the local, as a way to commemorate local cultures and histories. While government planners and private enterprise are intent on developing a world-class environment, Singaporeans and visitors respond to this urban vision in different ways with some praising the dynamism of worldly transformations and others criticising them as a prelude to a soulless city. While some degree of worldliness is essential in any redevelopment, a fine balance has to be sought between the excesses of global urbanism and the parochialism of vernacular concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Assuring the quality of transnational education has been an endeavour of increasing importance in the internationalisation of higher education but is also increasingly challenging given the involvement of many stakeholders. This paper focuses on the experiences of and challenges faced by private tertiary education providers in Malaysia and Singapore, which are major importers of Australian degrees, in coping with the varied and increasingly demanding requirements of different quality assurance goals, emphases and systems. Interviews with staff from private providers of tertiary education in both countries revealed that the existence of a large number of different requirements based on varied standards leads to counter-productive and ineffective outcomes such as the diversion of resources. The experiences of Malaysia and Singapore provide valuable lessons for emerging economies, including China and India, both of which will likely be major educational providers in the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Easier travel and communication technologies, together with the global demand and supply labour market exchanges occurring under post-Fordist capitalism, create the conditions that make transnational family formations more common than before. Geographically dispersed family members are governed by different citizenship regimes that affect familial interactions and the possibility of family reunification. Such family formations have significant implications for the nation-state framework and the way that citizenship is practised in a transnational world. Singapore, a young city-state in Southeast Asia, provides an insightful case-study to examine migrant motivations and citizenship behaviour. The political leaders in Singapore represent the nation-state’s internationalising drive – which includes encouraging Singaporeans to live and work overseas for a period of time – and its domestic nation-building goals as strategies that are both necessary and yet in tension with one another. This paper draws on discourse analysis to examine the ways in which the Singaporean state plays upon familial logics and citizenship regulations as one of its strategies to bind overseas citizens to the country. I also employ findings from in-depth interviews with Singaporean transmigrants in London to discuss the manner in which the above considerations frame their decisions on migration and citizenship. In doing so, I argue that research on migration and the transnational family should consider how they both articulate and are in turn articulated by the nation-state. I then show how my research results have important implications for citizenship policymaking in a transnational world, particularly with respect to gendered familial discourses and nation-building processes. I also suggest that my research findings indicate areas for further academic enquiry into the morphology, strategies and temporality of transnational family formations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In the late 1990s and early 2000s, select cities in Pacific Asia formed or significantly deepened formal institutional linkages with a variety of foreign (mainly Western) universities. The objective of this paper is to examine: the policy objectives of Singapore, a Pacific Asian city-state, in opening up its territory to new forms of foreign educational knowledge, institutional structures, practices, and technologies; the specific programs and practices that have enabled the Singaporean state to implement these policy objectives; and the preliminary implications of various “modes of entry” that the foreign universities have adopted for the formation of university–industry linkages in Singapore. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As a small city-state scarce in natural resources and aspiring to become a major player in a globalised world, Singapore exemplifies an urban node criss-crossed by transnational practices and networks of capital, labour, business and commodity markets, and cultural flows. The social, cultural and economic fabric of this city-state is thus not only woven out of local elements but involves a high density of transnational relationships. Singapore hence provides an important test-bed for the main hypothesis of the concept of global householding, that is, the observation that the formation and sustenance of households is increasingly reliant on the international movement of people and transactions among household members residing in more than one national territory. In this light, this paper seeks to provide a broad overview of recent changes and trends in the structure and shape of the household in Singapore. These include the formation of transnational Singaporean households with different members located in two or more countries (including spouses working abroad and children studying overseas); the introduction of foreign domestic workers into the ‘sanctity’ of the Singapore household as a #x2018;solution’ to the care crisis on the domestic front; an increase in international marriages involving Singapore nationals (including the import of ‘foreign brides’ from less developed countries); and finally, the rise of international adoption, partly as a result of the failure of couples to conceive given later marriages and stressful lifestyles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the Singapore government's ‘regionalization strategy’ (1990–2004) as a national development policy. Unlike the Singapore government's earlier national development policy, which focused on encouraging industrial transnational corporations to locate production within Singapore, the new strategy encouraged them to locate production in Singapore-developed industrial parks in selected cities across the Asia Pacific region. As a development policy, this research finds that the regionalization strategy has had mixed results. It has succeeded in encouraging industrial transnational corporations to locate in these Singapore-developed industrial parks, but failed to generate enough profits to supplement Singapore's domestic economy. Based on this study, there are two conclusions that can be drawn: first economic globalization and global production networks are not only driven by the motivations of industrial transnational corporations (market driven) but also by national economic policies (state driven), such as by the Singapore government's regionalization strategy. Second, as a national development policy, a ‘regional’ strategy is highly risky as the state is not in full control of external factors, as opposed to implementing development policies locally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland and Singapore have many striking similarities despite varying political ethos and culture. Both economies are striving toward a knowledge-based economy based on information communication technology in a highly globalized context. Both have been ranked as the top globalizer — Ireland in 2001 and Singapore in 2000 by AT Kearney in Foreign Policy Magazine. In terms of sustainability for economic growth and development, both economies recognize the critical role of their local enterprises and indigenous industry in general and entrepreneurship in innovative and creative activities, in particular. Both Ireland and Singapore, as developmental states, have favourable government intervention including the all-important aspect in human resources development and entrepreneurship education and training at the university level in pursuit of sustainable growth. Faced with a more competitive and highly volatile global economy, the two may learn lessons from each other and share experiences with other economies in their respective regions on entrepreneurship or enterprise development in attempting some model comparison, this paper looks into the prospect of some generic entrepreneurship developmental model as a template in the first instance, subject to idiosyncratic socio-political features of individual countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]