Governing Singapore's Security Sector: Problems, Prospects and Paradox (Report‪)‬

The case of Singapore is somewhat of a conundrum for students of security sector governance in at least two ways. On the one hand, while there is little question over the extent of professionalism within Singapore's security sector, the perceived lack of democratic governance of the Singaporean polity makes for a less than robust case insofar as the general theory of security sector governance is concerned. On the other hand, the stark differences between Singapore's security sector and those of its regional neighbours complicate attempts at a contingent argument of security sector governance with regard to the whole of Southeast Asia. Whether these distinctions together merit a case for a Singaporean "exceptionalism" is not entirely evident. Measured against the two aforementioned contexts, it is probably easy enough to surmise that while Singapore does a better job than most other Southeast Asian countries at governing its security sector, the compulsively technocratic manner in which it does so, compounded by the common view of Singapore as a soft autocracy or illiberal democracy, arguably justify the need for some level of reform. That having been said, while it may be fair to contend (as some do) that security sector governance, a principally "Western" agenda, has had a relatively limited impact on Southeast Asia due to the apparent irrelevance of its foundational assumptions and lack of appreciation for the ground realities in Southeast Asia, (1) a closer reading of Singapore's governance of its security sector raises the possibility that the Singaporean city state has more in common with Western democracies with respect to problems and prospects than common wisdom about security sectors has generally allowed. This paper will begin by reviewing pertinent developments in the theory of security sector governance thinking and more specifically of security sector governance in Southeast Asia. It will then discuss the evolution and state of Singapore's security sector, the specific challenges that confront it and its future prospects.