Developmentalism, social welfare and state capacity in East Asia: integrating housing and social security in Singapore

Abstract

One of the key debates in comparative politics for East Asian countries has been the concern with the contribution of the developmental state towards enhancing state capacity. However, the literature on developmentalism has largely been confined to the discussions on industrial and competitive policies to illustrate the state-orchestrated developmental path and fails to capture the contribution of social policy in the developmental state debate. Within this context, the connection between housing policy and economic policy has simply been neglected. Using Singapore's case of integrated public housing and social security system as illustration, this paper argues that such unique institutional arrangement aiming at the integration of housing and social security serves an important function not only in meeting social needs but also in enhancing economic development and state capacity. The paper critically examines the Singapore case as the state is trapped in cycles of effort to reinvent institutional adaptations to face endogenous and exogenous challenges in the face of a volatile global economy.

Keywords:

• Singapore housing policy
• developmentalism
• state capacity in East Asia

Notes

1. http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Gen-Info/Con-Rates/ContriRa.htm [Accessed 19 June 2007].