Perspectives on the Security of Singapore

The First 50 Years

Perspectives on the Security of Singapore: The First 50 Years explores the security of Singapore in the last 50 years and its possible trajectories into the future. This volume brings together the diverse perspectives of a team of academics with different expertise, ranging from history to political science to security studies with a common interest in Singapore. The book is further boosted by the recollections of key civil servants involved with foreign affairs and defence, such as S R Nathan, Peter Ho, Bilahari Kausikan and Philip Yeo.

Contents:

• Introduction

• Part 1:

  • Singapore's Conception of Security (Ang Cheng Guan)
  • National Security and Singapore: An Assessment (Norman Vasu and Bernard Loo)
  • Deliquescent Security Threats: Singapore in the Era of Hyper-Globalisation (Alan Chong)
  • Singapore and Global Governance: Free-Rider or Responsible Stakeholder? (Tan See Seng)
  • The Challenge of Strategic Intelligence for the Singapore Armed Forces (Kwa Chong Guan)
  • Desecuritisation and after Desecuritisation: The Water Issue in Singapore–Malaysia Relations (S R Joey Long)
  • Singapore's Security in the Context of Singapore–Malaysia–Indonesia Relations (Bilveer Singh)
  • Singapore's Relations with Malaysia and Indonesia (Theophilus Kwek and Joseph Chinyong Liow)
  • International Missions of the Singapore Armed Forces: How Far Would You Go? (Katie Tan and Ong Weichong)
  • Why the FPDA Still Matters to Singapore (Ralf Emmers)
  • Singapore in ASEAN's Quest toward a Security Community (Mely Caballero-Anthony)
  • Singapore and the Great Powers (Khong Yuen Foong)
  • The Changing Terrorist Threat Landscape in Singapore (Rohan Gunaratna)
  • Managing Religious Diversity in Singapore: Context and Challenges (Mohammad Alami Musa and Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib)

• Part 2:

  • Personal Reminiscences

  • Safeguarding Singapore's Security: Defence and Diplomacy (S R Nathan)

    Organising for National Security — The Singapore Experience (Peter Ho)

    Pragmatic Adaptation, Not Grand Strategy, Shaped Singapore Foreign Policy (Bilahari Kausikan)

    Dr Goh Keng Swee and the Building of Singapore's Defence Industrial Capability (Philip Yeo)

• Conclusion: Strategic Certainties Facing Singapore in 2065 (Barry Desker)

Readership: Undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and academics, and general public interested in security studies in general and in Singapore.
Key Features:

• This is possibly the first scholarly collective effort/book on the subject of security of Singapore
• The contributors are academics within (and associated with) the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), the only school cum think-tank that specialises in security issues in Singapore
• The contributors include former top civil servants who played a significant role in the shaping and conduct of Singapore's foreign and defence policies