ABSTRACT

The extent of democratic practices necessarily varies across nations and within a particular nation across time and circumstances. The fundamental basis of People's Action Party's (pap's) claim to be democratic is that it has always captured state power through untempered elections, not otherwise. Pressing home the psychological advantage of winning the referendum, the pap called a general election at the close of 1963. Singaporeans are appreciative of the government's technical bureaucratic efficiency in improving their material life, and are aware of its interventionist character. Throughout the 1970s, the pap governed without parliamentary opposition. Rapid improvements in material life, combined with memories of political repression, kept political expression at its lowest point. The package of government responses has been read either as steps towards greater democratisation, or as fine-tuning the entrenchment of an authoritarian regime. Parallel strategic difficulties are faced by voluntary associations, the quintessential civil society institutions.