Technocratic Socialism

The Political Thought of Lee Kuan Yew and Devan Nair (1954-1976)

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3986271
AutoresQuah Say Jye (0000-0002-5249-0465, National University of Singapore, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume53
Fascículo4
Páginas584-607
Data de publicação2023-08-08
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2022.2086480
OpenAlexW4284709802
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas30

Despite initially expressing a firm commitment to socialism and its ideals, the People's Action Party's socialist roots remain curiously under-explored. To take a first step in reconstructing the party leadership's understanding of socialism from 1954 to 1976, this article investigates the socialist political thought of two of their key figures – founding Secretary-General Lee Kuan Yew and stalwart union leader Devan Nair. This article reconstructs Lee and Nair's theory of socialism that it terms "technocratic socialism." It draws from the historiographical method of Quentin Skinner to read Lee and Nair as intervening in their specific Cold War and decolonisation context, where socialism was dominated by Marxism-Leninism. Four key overlapping tenets of the theory are posited: (i) a loose form of historical materialism; (ii) a conception of the technocratic elite as the privileged subject; (iii) equality of opportunity as a moral principle; and (iv) a geo-political position which emphasised non-alignment, material development, and power politics. The article concludes with discussion of technocratic socialism's socialist credentials

Communism · Elite · Historiography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · Technocracy · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Socioeconomic Development in Asia