Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:40:16.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electoral Innovation in Competitive Authoritarian States: A Case for the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2016

WALID JUMBLATT ABDULLAH
WALID JUMBLATT ABDULLAH*
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore and King's College [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates the efficacy of a form of electoral innovation unique to the island-state of Singapore, the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) scheme, and its impact on democratic governance, in light of the changing political landscape. A comparative perspective will be employed and broader conclusions on electoral engineering will be reached, especially for democratizing countries. Contrary to conventional scholarly wisdom, I argue that the NMP scheme can actually boost democratic representation in the country, considering the changing political landscape in the state previously dominated by a hegemonic party. This is via two ways: firstly, NMPs could better represent the voices of the people at the margins of society and, secondly, they could be better positioned to raise issues that are deemed too ‘sensitive’ to be raised by opposition parties. NMPs can enhance democratic governance by promoting deliberation, accountability, and representation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 190 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chua, Beng Huat (1995), Communitarian Ideology and Democracy in Singapore, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chua, Beng Huat (2003), ‘Multiculturalism in Singapore: An Instrument of Social Control’, Race & Class, 44 (3): 58–77.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony (1957), An Economic Theory of Democracy, New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Dryzek, John S. (2000), Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics and Contestations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Elster, Jon (1998), ‘Introduction’, in Elster, Jon (ed.), Deliberative Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–18.Google Scholar
Gomez, James (2006), ‘Restricting Free Speech: The Impact on Opposition Parties in Singapore’, Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 23 (1): 105–31.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Amy and Thompson, Dennis (2004), Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellman, Olli (2014), ‘Electoral Reform in Asia: Institutional Engineering against “Money Politics”’, Japanese Journal of Political Science, 15 (2): 275–98.Google Scholar
Holcombe, Randall G. (1989), ‘The Median Voter Model in Public Choice Theory’, Public Choice, 61 (2): 115–125.Google Scholar
Lee, Yvonne C. L. (2008), ‘“Don't Ever Take a Fence Down Until You Know the Reason It Was Put Up” – Singapore Communitarianism and the Case for Conserving 377A’, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, 347–394.Google Scholar
Levitsky, Steven and Way, Lucan A. (2002), ‘Elections Without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism’, Journal of Democracy, 13 (2): 51–65.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend (1991), ‘Constitutional Choices for New Democracies’, Journal of Democracy, 2 (1): 72–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manin, Bernard, Stein, Elly, and Mansbridge, Jane (1987), ‘On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation’, Political Theory, 15 (3): 338–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mauzy, Diane K. (2002), ‘Electoral Innovation and One-Party Dominance in Singapore’, in Hsieh, Fuh-sheng and Newman, David (eds.), How Asia Votes, New York: Chatham House Publishers, pp. 234–54.Google Scholar
Mutalib, Hussin (2000), ‘Illiberal Democracy and the Future of Opposition in Singapore’, Third World Quarterly, 21 (2): 313–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutalib, Hussin (2002), ‘Constitutional-Electoral and Politics in Singapore’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 27 (4): 659–72.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa (2004), Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ooi, Giok Ling (2005), ‘The Role of the Developmental State and Managing Interethnic Relations in Singapore’, Asian Ethnicity, 6 (2): 109–20.Google Scholar
Ortmann, Stephan (2011), ‘Singapore: Authoritarian but Newly Competitive’, Journal of Democracy, 22 (4): 153–64.Google Scholar
Peled, Alon (1998), A Question of Loyalty: Military Manpower Policy in Multiethnic States, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Pitkin, Hanna Fenichel (1967), The Concept of Representation, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, Benjamin (2001), Democracy in Divided Societies: Electoral Engineering for Conflict Management, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, Benjamin (2002), ‘Social Choice in the South Seas: Electoral Innovation and the Borda Count in the Pacific Island Countries’, International Political Science Review, 23 (4): 355–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, Andrew, Reilly, Benjamin, and Ellis, Andrew (2008), Electoral System Design: The New International IDEA Handbook, Stockholm: International IDEA.Google Scholar
Rodan, Garry (2009), ‘New Modes of Political Participation and Singapore's Nominated Members of Parliament’, Government and Opposition, 44 (4): 438–62.Google Scholar
Salmond, Rob (2006), ‘Proportional Representation and Female Parliamentarians’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 31 (2): 175–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni (1976), Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni (1994), Comparative Constitutional Engineering: An Inquiry into Structures, Incentives and Outcomes, New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Tan, Eugene K. B. (2013), ‘Autochthonous Constitutional Design in Post-Colonial Singapore: Intimations of Confucianism and the Leviathan in Entrenching Dominant Government’, Yonsei Law Journal, 4 (2): 273–308.Google Scholar
Tan, Kenneth Paul (2012), ‘Singapore in 2011: A “New Normal” in Politics?’, Asian Survey, 52 (1): 220–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, Kevin Y. L. (2009), ‘State and Institution Building through the Singapore Constitution 1965–2005’, in Thio, Li-Ann and Kevin, Y. L. Tan (eds.), Evolution of a Revolution: Forty years after the Singapore Constitution, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 50–78.Google Scholar
Tan, Netina (2013), ‘Manipulating Electoral Laws in Singapore’, Electoral Studies, 32 (4): 632–43.Google Scholar
Thio, Li-Ann (2009), ‘The Passage of a Generation: Revisiting the Report of the 1966 Constitutional Commission’, in Thio, Li-Ann and Kevin, Tan (eds.), Evolution of a Revolution: Forty Years of the Singapore Constitution, Abingdon, Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 7–49.Google Scholar
Tremewan, Christopher (1995), The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore, New York: St Martins.Google Scholar
Urbinati, Nadia and Warren, Mark E. (2008), ‘The Concept of Representation in Contemporary Democratic Theory’, Annual Review of Political Science, 11: 387–412.Google Scholar
Wong, Benjamin and Huang, Xunming (2010), ‘Political Legitimacy in Singapore’, Politics and Policy, 38 (3): 523–43.Google Scholar
Woon, Walter (1994), ‘Nominated MPs: Some Check Is Better than No Check’, in Da Cunha, Derek (ed.), Debating Singapore: Reflective Essays, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 15–18.Google Scholar
Wu, Fengshi (2003), ‘Environmental GONGO Autonomy: Unintended Consequences of State Strategies in China’, The Good Society, 12 (1): 35–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zwart, Frank de (2000), ‘The Logic of Affirmative Action: Class, Caste and Quotas in India’, Acta Sociologica, 43 (3): 235–49.Google Scholar