Singapore's Need for Exceptional Foreign Policy

Introduction

Only at its 50th year, Singapore has been through roller coaster ride, having had confrontations with superpowers, lobbied for sanctions, and enjoyed warming ties with neighbours. I argue Singapore’s foreign policy must always be exceptional for success. Exceptionalism – defined vis-à-vis theories on the limited nature of small state behaviour – entails actions contrary to these expectations, possibly demanding small states’ deliberate, proactive and tactful pursuit of influence and clout. Intrinsic and unique challenges of Singapore’s foreign policy – which are coloured by structural disadvantages of small states – relative to its objectives which these difficulties inhibit the pursuit of, require it always be exceptional to close this gap. Firstly, a challenge is how, due to its size, it faces vulnerabilities and the risk of irrelevance to other powers. Secondly, its hostile geopolitical environment unfriendly to small states forms the ongoing backdrop its external affairs. Thirdly, due to its domestic developmental model’s outward orientation, it needs to interact and assert itself in a foreign policy biased against small states. These foreign policy challenges impede successful achievement of its objectives, the maintenance of sovereignty, and the procurement of needs for its society’s prosperity, which require advancement of economic and political goals in the international realm. To resolve tensions between these paradoxical challenges and objectives, Singapore cannot fall short of exceptionalism. Moreover, it appears to lack viable alternatives to exceptionalism. While strategic resources, Great Powers links and use of multilateral institutions may allow it to bypass small state weaknesses, they fail to provi...

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...decoupled nature of Singapore’s domestic and foreign affairs does not necessarily mean it can fall short of exceptionalism.

Conclusion

There is a striking misalignment between Singapore’s foreign policy challenges and objectives. As a small state, it suffers from intrinsic vulnerabilities and the risk of irrelevance; challenges arising from its size are worsened by its hostile geopolitical environment, and its need to constantly interact with its foreign policy environment due to its outward-orientation. As these challenges pose contradictions to the pursuit of its foreign policy objectives, it must always be exceptional to succeed. It seems to lack viable alternatives to exceptionalism, as its most promising options – leveraging on its strategic resources, multilateral institutions or Great Power Strategy – does not provide it escape from small state weaknesses.