Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Lee Kuan Yew
- Country
- Singapore
- Era
- 1923–2015
- Tradition
- Developmental authoritarianism
Founding Prime Minister of Singapore, who built an open, high-income market economy while restricting political opposition, press freedom and civil liberties — the clearest modern case for and against the trade-off.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Open trade and foreign investment combined with heavy state ownership of land and housing
- Compulsory savings through the Central Provident Fund rather than tax-funded welfare
- Use of defamation suits and detention without trial against political opponents
- Strict criminal law, including corporal and capital punishment
- Argued that "Asian values" justified prioritising order and development over liberal rights
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
66
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
42
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
14
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Well documented
Tradition and change
24
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Documented
Nation and the world
76
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Documented
Religion and the state
32
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Documented
Power and its limits
16
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Well documented
Crime and punishment
10
PunishmentRehabilitation
Evidence: Well documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Environment and growth
Sources
- Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First: The Singapore Story · 2000
- Fareed Zakaria, A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew · Foreign Affairs · 1994
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