MANAGING MARKETS IN SINGAPORE UNDER ECONOMIC LIBERALISATION

Abstract

The global wave of neoliberal reform had taken root since the 1980s. The introduction of unbridled market forces and private enterprise had compromised states? abilities to manage markets. Central to the Singaporean state?s political legitimacy is its ability to deliver sustained economic growth to its citizens. In turn, this ability is contingent on its capacity in managing its markets to coordinate economic activity. The Singaporean state undertook successful liberal reform despite the apparent contradiction between neoliberal reform and its ability in generating growth. I argue that ?institutional transplantation? was undertaken to institutionalize market forces without conceding state control over markets. It comprises the controlling of the organizational field to strategically transplant desired market institutions. I explicate the mechanisms of ?institutional transplantation? through the cases of the electricity and telecommunications industry. The absence of the mechanisms in the public transport industry failure lends further support to institutional transplantation.