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How does this square with regimes like Singapore, which is one of the least corrupt nations in the world yet also an authoritarian, one-party system?

mentalgear 7mo ago
These are the 'benevolent authoritarian-ship' outliers - very rare and depends on chance that the current person in power truly acts in the interest of the public - but when they are gone there's no legal framework in place that keeps their successors to do whatever they please. EDIT: commenters are still all referring to Singapore which I remind you is the very rare outlier case.
- abhinai 7mo ago
  Not true. LKY has been gone a while and Singapore GDP has only gone up.
- stingraycharles 7mo ago
  I guess it’s a good thing that the ruling party has been in power for about 6 decades at this point.
- bobthepanda 7mo ago
  Part of what makes Singapore interesting is that they have yet to have a leader truly invested in subsuming the power of the system. A big thing of Xi Jinping’s rise to power has been the systematic dismantling of post-Mao checks on power. Singapore has yet to have a leader willing to take over the system, because two of its leaders were the dynasty that created the system. The real test is what happens when someone like that shows up; but even Western democracies face this problem, it’s just that the system has more built in speed bumps to overcome.
- groundzeros2015 7mo ago
  Rare outliers indicate the root problem is not the structure. All the interesting questions arise from the outliers
zipy124 7mo ago
It doesn't because their premise falls apart in democracies too. Civil servants in democracies are not elected and they have the same 'stopping power'. A planning officer in the UK could just as easily decide to arbritrarily block plans they disagree with as in an authoratian country.
- collabs 7mo ago
  My guess is there is some kind of momentum with these things. If everybody demands bribes, then by not demanding bribes yourself when you are in a position to do so, you are effectively pissing away your take but remember you still need to pay bribes to everyone else because they don't care you didn't take bribes. On the flip side, if nobody else requires bribes but you do, you will surely stick out like a sore thumb. If I don't get paid bribes and I am an influential powerful person, why should I pay you any bribes? Especially for something that is legitimate and a part of your duties?
- walthamstow 7mo ago
  A planning officer, who happens to share an uncommon surname with the local MP, did just that with an application of mine recently. No site visit, no photos, no respect to the law, just NO.
  - onraglanroad 7mo ago
    That provides an easy solution: complain to your MP. At length. And then ask if the planning officer happens to be a relative, as though it has just occurred to you. And then you might consider talking to the local paper to see if it would make a story. Also the crapper tabloids might even pay for the story.
- Gravityloss 7mo ago
  I am not a historian but the difference is between a society with a "rule of law" and "law of the jungle". Probably high democracy correlates with rule of law, but they are not the same thing.
  - 7mo ago
Aloha 7mo ago
To my knowledge, while authoritarian it's not a totalitarian state, and Singapore has fairly effective means of redress (aka, rule of law).

mentalgear 7mo ago

These are the 'benevolent authoritarian-ship' outliers - very rare and depends on chance that the current person in power truly acts in the interest of the public - but when they are gone there's no legal framework in place that keeps their successors to do whatever they please. EDIT: commenters are still all referring to Singapore which I remind you is the very rare outlier case.

abhinai 7mo ago
Not true. LKY has been gone a while and Singapore GDP has only gone up.
stingraycharles 7mo ago
I guess it’s a good thing that the ruling party has been in power for about 6 decades at this point.
bobthepanda 7mo ago
Part of what makes Singapore interesting is that they have yet to have a leader truly invested in subsuming the power of the system. A big thing of Xi Jinping’s rise to power has been the systematic dismantling of post-Mao checks on power. Singapore has yet to have a leader willing to take over the system, because two of its leaders were the dynasty that created the system. The real test is what happens when someone like that shows up; but even Western democracies face this problem, it’s just that the system has more built in speed bumps to overcome.
groundzeros2015 7mo ago
Rare outliers indicate the root problem is not the structure. All the interesting questions arise from the outliers

zipy124 7mo ago

It doesn't because their premise falls apart in democracies too. Civil servants in democracies are not elected and they have the same 'stopping power'. A planning officer in the UK could just as easily decide to arbritrarily block plans they disagree with as in an authoratian country.

collabs 7mo ago
My guess is there is some kind of momentum with these things. If everybody demands bribes, then by not demanding bribes yourself when you are in a position to do so, you are effectively pissing away your take but remember you still need to pay bribes to everyone else because they don't care you didn't take bribes. On the flip side, if nobody else requires bribes but you do, you will surely stick out like a sore thumb. If I don't get paid bribes and I am an influential powerful person, why should I pay you any bribes? Especially for something that is legitimate and a part of your duties?
walthamstow 7mo ago
A planning officer, who happens to share an uncommon surname with the local MP, did just that with an application of mine recently. No site visit, no photos, no respect to the law, just NO.
- onraglanroad 7mo ago
  That provides an easy solution: complain to your MP. At length. And then ask if the planning officer happens to be a relative, as though it has just occurred to you. And then you might consider talking to the local paper to see if it would make a story. Also the crapper tabloids might even pay for the story.
Gravityloss 7mo ago
I am not a historian but the difference is between a society with a "rule of law" and "law of the jungle". Probably high democracy correlates with rule of law, but they are not the same thing.
- 7mo ago

Aloha 7mo ago

To my knowledge, while authoritarian it's not a totalitarian state, and Singapore has fairly effective means of redress (aka, rule of law).