Singapore

Singapore has gained a reputation for being one of the wealthiest and best-educated countries in the world and one of the brightest success stories for a colony-turned-sovereign state, but the country's path to success was anything but assured. Its strategic location and natural resources both allowed Singapore to profit from global commerce and also made the island an attractive conquest for the world's naval powers, resulting in centuries of stunting colonialization.

In Singapore: Unlikely Power, John Curtis Perry provides an evenhanded and authoritative history of the island nation that ranges from its Malay origins to the present day. Singapore development has been aided by its greatest natural blessing-a natural deepwater port, shielded by mountain ranges from oceanic storms and which sits along one of the most strategic straits in the world, cementing the island's place as a major shipping entrepot throughout modern history. Perry traces the succession of colonizers, beginning with China in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and followed by the island's most famous colonizer, Britain, which ruled Singapore until the 1960s excluding the Japanese occupation of World War II. After setting a historical context, Perry turns to the era of independence beginning in the 1960s. Plagued with corruption, inequality, lack of an educated population, Singapore improbably vaulted from essentially third-world status into a first world dynamo over the course of three decades-with much credit due longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister who led the country for over three decades, who embraced the colonial past, established close ties with former foe Japan, and adopted a resolutely pragmatist approach to economic development. His efforts were successful, and Singapore today is a model regime for other developing states.

Singapore's stunning transformation from a poor and corrupt colonial backwater into an economic powerhouse renowned for its wealth, order, and rectitude is one of the great-and most surprising-success stories of modern era. Singapore is an accessible, comprehensive, and indeed colorful overview of one of the most influential political-economic models in the world and is an enlightening read for anyone interested in how Singapore achieved the unachievable.

-The life of Singapore as an independent nation since 1965 has coincided with explosive growth, both of world trade and world wealth. Trade, heavily seaborne, now contributes more than half of global GNP. Largely by exploiting changing uses of the ocean, Singapore has grown remarkably rich. Constant and continuing comment in the media concerning Singapore's dramatic economic and organizational achievement has yet to find its way into a book, and this one is the first to put the story of Singapore into a global maritime context, describing and analyzing how, despite many life-threatening crises, Singapore, by using the sea, survived and prospered far beyond even its own expectations. Putting priority upon economic development and maintaining the social and economic stability that Singapore's authoritarian government has thought necessary to achieve this growth has provoked heated controversy both among Singaporeans and outside observers. Although opposition is too weak to challenge the government successfully, the struggle to define an acceptable balance between freedom and control continues. This question takes on a universal concern, intensified in our age of terrorism with its new challenges to order and stability. To what extent does authority stifle creativity?---Provided by publisher.

John Perry, a maritime and diplomatic historian, provides a unique perspective on Singapore, a remarkable port city that, like Hong Kong and Bahrain, was a British colony and became the business, service, and intellectual headquarters for a region. He traces here how Singapore, a multi-racial, multi-cultural city, has developed unique social policies and officials who provide world-class leadership in the councils of the world. --Ezra Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, emeritus, Harvard University; author of Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China

The story of Singapore is the story of the 21st century: asymmetric and creative approaches to foreign policy that provide opportunity, stability, and multicultural engagement. There is so much to learn from the City of Lions, and John Curtis Perry is the perfect guide. This is a profoundly important book for anyone studying international relations. --Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), NATO Supreme Allied Commander 2009-2013, and Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

For narrative, perfection of pace; for description, a lively eye; for scholarship, tenacity and depth; breadth for the delineation of context and comparisons; insight in character-depiction, and provocation in judgement: John Perry has the qualities to make enlightening work of his study of 'the Singapore grip': the city-state's stunning story of response to daunting challenges. --Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, William P. Reynolds Professor of History, University of Notre Dame

John Perry's brisk and engaging Singapore: Unlikely Power situates the Southeast Asian city-state in its historical context, and shows convincingly how over the course of two centuries visionary leaders have fused political will and geographic advantage to create a globalized economic powerhouse. --Lincoln Paine, author of The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World

Meticulously researched and holistic in approach, Perry's narrative seamlessly balances insights and perspectives on the past, present and future of the island and region. An ideal read for anyone who has wondered about the global forces that created the modern commercial city-state-and why it exists where it does. --Daniel Finamore, Russell W. Knight Curator of, Maritime Art and History, Peabody Essex Museum