ABSTRACT
This entry discusses the changing dynamics of state–market partnerships in Singapore. As Singapore continues to move toward its recently articulated goal of becoming a knowledge-based economy and an industrial hub in the Asia Pacific region, certain issues in economic policy formulation and implementation are increasingly emerging. Singapore's corporatist model of state–market partnership with predominantly multinational corporations is experiencing a gradual redefinition to include a greater role for local enterprises. Closely related to this is the fact that as a function of its economic success, the high costs of labor and other production inputs, relative to the country's regional competitors, are necessitating a redefinition of the strategy and goals of state–market partnership, including tripartism, as instruments of pragmatic economic management. These recent phenomena are, in turn, having some impacts on the state's capacity and legitimacy to continue its interventionist management of the Singapore economy.
