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By comparing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Tiger economies, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, this article examines the advantages and limitations of the statist command and control approaches to crisis management. Local, regional, and global politics as well as global political economy impinge and influence the state response. The article argues that a combination of factors – the institutional memory, overall state capacity and efficacy rooted in the preexisting institutional nexus, performance legitimacy, trust, reliance on scientific rationality, and integration with global scientific networks – stood in good stead in dealing with the crisis. Yet, as the crisis rolled on, some of the stellar performers showed considerable gaps in planning and politics trumped sensible policies. Despite the commonality, the article shows that there were important differences in the responses of the three Tiger economies, especially in rolling out the vaccines, which can be explained not only by the state capacity but also the larger global politico-economic contexts. The article argues that the state capacity is affected by the global dynamics, the specificity of geopolitical and historical contexts, which must be factored in in explaining successes and failures of state responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to examine Eurasian globalization historically, this paper outlines three phases of globalization starting from 200 BCE to 1492 CE as Phase 1 and 1500 CE to 1999 CE as Phase 2 and from 2000 CE Phase 3. By historicizing the concept and the process of globalization, the paper attempts to provide a more global rather than a Europe-centred history of globalization and modernization. The paper builds on the idea of Eurasia and offers a new perspective of Eurasian globalization by pivoting on China's role in both Phase 1 and Phase 3 of globalization. The paper uses historical literature that has been not only critical of the Eurocentric view of the world but also provides a more connected view of global history. Concurring with Steger and James [2019. Globalization matters. Cambridge University Press] that globalization has not outlived its utility, the paper seeks to historicize and globalize the discussion of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the world is facing a condition of moral recession with profound and debilitating consequences in all spheres of life. Highly specialized social sciences are failing to address the issue of the moral conditions in a systematic manner. Differentiation, a master sociological process, has relativized the world to the extent that issues of morality and ethics are assigned to specialists, i.e., theologians and moral philosophers. It is only the extreme cases of inhumanity and moral depravation that bring the moral issues to public attention. Defining the value of life as a key moral value, and discussing the deaths and human sufferings in the seemingly endless wars, the paper draws attention to the need for shared global moral values to underpin a global society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The socio-cultural changes in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore, can be beneficially examined in terms of the concepts of globalisation and glocalisation. The two concepts are related and their evolution and transformation highlight the tangled relationship between the discipline of sociology and globalisation. Although the sociological concepts and theories in the Western sociological discourses have a general import, there are problems in the application of these in the local contexts of Malaysia and Singapore. This calls for a critical and creative refinement of the concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the proposition that in the globalized world the conceptual-if not geographical-boundaries between 'national' and 'international' have been blurred. Not only does this blurring illustrate the validity of increasing cross-border activities predicted by globalization theorists, it also points to the salience of 'nation' and 'nation building' even in the midst of globalization. In this article, is explored the implications of international volunteerism for nation-building in Singapore. It is discussed how international volunteerism through the Singapore International Foundation has the effect of promoting citizens participation in Singapore. This is achieved by fostering a sense of inclusion, developing social capital, promoting volunteerism internally and nurturing a sense of national pride and identity, while developing globally-oriented citizens. All of these attainments contribute to the development of a civic society in Singapore. 'Civic' Society is a "non-political variant of the civil society concept which is containable within the dominant "political culture"