Singapore: The World's Only Successful Dictatorship?

[Bo$$man]

Singapore have succeeded in establishing a functional authoritarian state which works so well it's considered somewhat democratic in the eyes of most.

 

[BigBreak]

@Periplus

 

[Periplus]

@Periplus

TLDR:Singapore is a unique case and very difficult to replicate. You need to have something that would require the US to leave you alone in order to replicate this.

After independence, Singapore were expelled from Malaysia and were one of the poorest countries in the world.

Not much attention was given to Lee Kwan Yew's dictatorship as the US needed allies in SE Asia in a period where communism was dominant in the region (Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Nth Korea etc). They were more than happy to pay a blind eye to Lee Kwan Yew as long as he kept communist elements at bay.

By the time communism was on the wane and the Western nations started cracking down on formerly friendly dictators, Singapore turned into an economic powerhouse. When a dictator is rich, you get left alone and that is what the Asian Tigers period gave LKY.

The problem is that no impoverished nation can replicate LKYs system of governance or his economic recovery as it was unique to that period. Do not get me wrong, middle income countries can probably still pull it off if they have something of use (commodities, military bases) to the US et al. for them to pay a blind eye.

Hope this is not too long.