Singapore’s Arctic Policy

Abstract

Singapore regards itself as vulnerable to the external environment due to its size, geography, and ethnic diversity. Singapore perceives developments in the Arctic, particularly the emergence of the new sea route, could potentially threaten Singapore’s position as a maritime node and make Singapore a global irrelevance as with other historic maritime powers, such as Venice. Because Singapore is a developmental state where the legitimacy of the leadership and the bureaucratic management of the economy are intricately entwined with economic prosperity, challenges to the economy are perceived as national security challenges. To manage this vulnerability and counter-potential economic and security challenges, Singapore takes a proactive stance of utilizing international or multilateral organizations of Arctic governance and seeks to exert influence beyond its size.

This chapter is partially based on an article originally published as “Singapore: An Emerging Arctic Actor,” in Lassi Heininen (Ed.). Arctic Yearbook 2012. Akureyri, Iceland: Northern Research Forum, pp. 103–113 (co-authored with Stewart Watters). Reprinted with the permission of the publisher.