Abstract
In Singapore’s electoral authoritarian regime, power is largely concentrated within a small ruling elite controlled by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). However, in recent years, the once hegemonic status of the PAP appears to be slowly declining with the transition to a competitive authoritarian regime. Many political observers tend to focus on structural shifts such as the socio-economic changes and the careful liberalisation process, ignoring the long-term discursive transformation of the hegemonic discourse stemming from these developments. The chapter analyses this transformation by discussing the changing discursive framing of the political opposition, the discursive shifts driving the increasingly assertive civil society, and the modified justifications underpinning recent policy changes which aim to be more responsive to popular demands.
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Notes
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- 2.
The difficulty of raising sufficient funds is another serious obstacle.
- 3.
The website for the Bukit Brown campaign can be found at https://sosbukitbrown.wordpress.com, while the MacRitchie campaign website is located at https://lovemacritchie.wordpress.com/
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One of the earliest cases in post-independence Singapore was the abandonment of the Graduate Mothers’ Scheme in 1984 following massive opposition from professional women, which also led to the creation of the Association for Women in Action and Research (AWARE), the principal gender equality advocacy group in Singapore.
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Ortmann, S. (2019). The Growing Challenge of Pluralism and Political Activism: Shifts in the Hegemonic Discourse in Singapore. In: Rahim, L.Z., Barr, M.D. (eds) The Limits of Authoritarian Governance in Singapore’s Developmental State. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1556-5_8
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