Michael D. Barr – författare

Cultural Politics and Asian Values looks at the political, cultural and religious background of East and Southeast Asian societies and those of 'the West', with a view to seeing how they are affecting contemporary national and international politics: democratization, the international human rights discourse, NGOs and globalisation.The book surveys the political history and pre-history of the 'Asian values' debate, taking it up to the era of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Chen Shui-bian and Kim Dae-jung. In chapters on Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and liberalism, Barr explores the histories and conceptual essences of the world religions involved in or affected by the debate.

Cultural Politics and Asian Values looks at the political, cultural and religious background of East and Southeast Asian societies and those of 'the West', with a view to seeing how they are affecting contemporary national and international politics: democratization, the international human rights discourse, NGOs and globalization.The book surveys the political history and pre-history of the 'Asian values' debate, taking it up to the era of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Chen Shui-bian and Kim Dae-jung. In chapters on Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and liberalism, Barr explores the histories and conceptual essences of the world religions involved in or affected by the debate.

Cultural Politics and Asian Values looks at the political, cultural and religious background of East and Southeast Asian societies and those of 'the West', with a view to seeing how they are affecting contemporary national and international politics: democratization, the international human rights discourse, NGOs and globalization.The book surveys the political history and pre-history of the 'Asian values' debate, taking it up to the era of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Chen Shui-bian and Kim Dae-jung. In chapters on Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and liberalism, Barr explores the histories and conceptual essences of the world religions involved in or affected by the debate.

Cultural Politics and Asian Values looks at the political, cultural and religious background of East and Southeast Asian societies and those of 'the West', with a view to seeing how they are affecting contemporary national and international politics: democratization, the international human rights discourse, NGOs and globalisation.The book surveys the political history and pre-history of the 'Asian values' debate, taking it up to the era of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Chen Shui-bian and Kim Dae-jung. In chapters on Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and liberalism, Barr explores the histories and conceptual essences of the world religions involved in or affected by the debate.

Singapore gained independence in 1965, a city-state in a world of nation-states. Yet its long and complex history reaches much farther back. Blending modernity and tradition, ideologies and ethnicities, a peculiar set of factors make Singapore what it is today. In this thematic study of the island nation, Michael D. Barr proposes a new approach to understand this development. From the pre-colonial period through to the modern day, he traces the idea, the politics and the geography of Singapore over five centuries of rich history. In doing so he rejects the official narrative of the so-called 'Singapore Story'. Drawing on in-depth archival work and oral histories, Singapore: A Modern History is a work both for students of the country's history and politics, but also for any reader seeking to engage with this enigmatic and vastly successful nation.

Michael Barr explores the complex and covert networks of power at work in one of the world’s most prosperous countries, the city-state of Singapore. Charting the creation of a national elite in the 1950s and its consolidation as the ruling elite in the 1960s, it argues that the contemporary networks of power are a deliberate project initiated and managed by Lee Kuan Yew- former prime minister and Singapore’s ‘founding father’.This updated and revised edition extends the narrative to consider recent developments and shifts in power since the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015. From the Lee-family feud to Lee Hsien Loong’s prime ministerial succession and the inexorable rise of K. Shanmugam, this book considers what this means for the future direction, character and power structure of Singapore’s ruling elite, and what the future might hold for this flourishing and affluent nation.

Michael Barr explores the complex and covert networks of power at work in one of the world’s most prosperous countries, the city-state of Singapore. Charting the creation of a national elite in the 1950s and its consolidation as the ruling elite in the 1960s, it argues that the contemporary networks of power are a deliberate project initiated and managed by Lee Kuan Yew- former prime minister and Singapore’s ‘founding father’.This updated and revised edition extends the narrative to consider recent developments and shifts in power since the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015. From the Lee-family feud to Lee Hsien Loong’s prime ministerial succession and the inexorable rise of K. Shanmugam, this book considers what this means for the future direction, character and power structure of Singapore’s ruling elite, and what the future might hold for this flourishing and affluent nation.

Michael Barr explores the complex and covert networks of power at work in one of the world's most prosperous countries - the city-state of Singapore. He argues that the contemporary networks of power are a deliberate project initiated and managed by Lee Kuan Yew - former prime minister and Singapore's 'founding father' - designed to empower himself and his family. Barr identifies the crucial institutions of power - including the country's sovereign wealth funds, and the government-linked companies - together with five critical features that form the key to understanding the nature of the networks. He provides an assessment of possible shifts of power within the elite in the wake of Lee Kuan Yew's son, Lee Hsien Loong, assuming power, and considers the possibility of a more fundamental democratic shift in Singapore's political system.

Singapore has few natural resources but, in a relatively short history, its economic and social development and transformation are nothing short of remarkable. Today Singapore is by far the most successful exemplar of material development in Southeast Asia and it often finds itself the envy of developed countries. Furthermore over the last three and a half decades the ruling party has presided over the formation of a thriving community of Singaporeans who love and are proud of their country.Nothing about these processes has been 'natural' in any sense of the word. Much of the country's investment in nation building has in fact gone into the selection, training and formation of a ruling and administrative elite that reflects and will perpetuate its vision of the nation. The government ownership of the nation-building project, its micromanagement of everyday life and the role played by the elite are three fundamental elements in this complex and continuing process of construction of a nation. The intense triangulation of these elements and the pace of change they produce make Singapore one of the most intriguing specimens of nation building in the region.In a critical study of the politics of ethnicity and elitism in Singapore, Constructing Singapore looks inside the supposedly 'meritocratic' system, from nursery school to university and beyond, that produces Singapore's political and administrative elite. Focusing on two processes elite formation and elite selection it gives primary attention to the role that ethno-racial ascription plays in these processes but also considers the input of personal connections, personal power, class and gender. The result is a study revealing much about how Singapore's elite-led nationbuilding project has reached its current state whereby a Singaporean version of Chinese ethno-nationalism has overwhelmed the discourse on national and Singaporean identity.

This book delves into the limitations of Singapore’s authoritarian governance model. As ‘growth with equity’ becomes more elusive, the rationale for power by a ruling party dominated by technocratic elite and state institutions crafted and controlled by the ruling party and its bureaucratic allies is open to more critical scrutiny.

Lee Kuan Yew, first Prime Minister of Singapore, is a figure whose international stature far exceeds that of the tiny island over which he presided for thirty years. Lee is the principal architect of Singapore's political stability and its international economic success, and often credited with being a leader of economic development throughout Asia. Yet the continuing interest in him several years after his retirement from the prime ministership derives mainly from his many contributions on the greater world stage. This first book ever to analyse the origin and substance of Lee's ideas remains timely and relevant, as well as provocative, and will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, not just of Singaporean history but those who follow the fortunes of Singapore and Asia in the wider connected world of the 21st Century.