Reinna Madel R.

Sy December 11, 2017

3 POL 2 Asst. Prof. Dennis Coronacion

Social Contract Dictatorship: The Success Story of Singapore

Social contract and dictatorship might seem two contradicting words to put together in a
sentence but I realized that there might be some instances where these two words can be used
simultaneously. This paper is about Social Contract Dictatorship. This is a political ideology based on
Thomas Hobbes’ Social Contract Theory and its relation with the type of dictatorship that occurred
during the era of Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore.
The term dictator originated from the Roman Republic. Unlike the negative connotations that is
connected with the word today, it has different definition compared to what it was before. In Rome, a
dictator is appointed to a respectable office during times of crisis. He is considered to have higher office
than the consul he normally holds office for a six-month term only. The dictator holds the title of a
magister populi or the master of the army, and he commands the army during times of crisis (Mackay,
2004). Dictators usually leave the office before their six months term ends once the crisis has been
solved (Freeman, 2008). Even though his power involves being the magister populi, a dictator only uses
this power to balance the power of the consuls. Also, he does not act as an “absolute monarch”, he still
follows the advice of the Senate and is limited by the boundaries set by the law (Keyes, 1917). Titus
Larcius is the first dictator in history as written by Titus Livius’ The History of Rome with the Epitomes
and Fragments of the Lost Books (Gagarin, 2010).
Julius Caesar is the most well-known dictator in the history of Rome. His achievements in
military and leadership paved the way for him to be elected as dictator. Even though dictatorship in
Rome was for a limited time only, he became a dictator for life due to the law passed by his predecessor,
Sulla (Gagarin, 2010).
Napoleon Bonaparte is who we can consider as the first modern dictator although he did not
consider himself as one. He was a general during the French Revolution and has won several wars. He
was the main proprietor on the abolishment of French monarchy and as a result, he established his own
empire. One of his greatest contributions is the Napoleonic Code. This code became influential that it
was used by neighboring countries as the basis for legal reforms. The Napoleonic Code still has influence
in the French Code until this day.
Today, the term dictatorship is synonymous with authoritarian, tyranny, absolutism, despotism,
and so on. It is defined as a form of government where absolute power is concentrated in a single
person, the dictator. His power is absolute because there is no other group, institution and even that
can provide limitations to it.
There are several types of dictatorship; the most common are totalitarianism, tinpots, tyranny,
and autocracy (Wintrobe, 2000 ). Totalitarian dictatorship is when a leader has the power to regulate
the private and public aspects of an individual’s life. Its power is constructed on a strong dictator and
the government’s capability to impose rules through coercion and repression (Totalitarianism, 2017).
The term was first coined by Benito Musolini as “totalitario” when he became the dictator of Italy.
According to him, it means “all within the state, none outside the state, none against the state. Among
the most well-known dictators who followed totalitarianism are Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Kim Jong
Un.
Tinpots is somehow similar with totalitarianism but not as repressive when it comes to control
of private life. Coercions are not necessary as long as it does not threaten the dictator’s stay in power.
According to Kirkpatrick (1992), tinpot government encompasses totalitarian and traditional autocracy.
This type of government is mostly backed up by military power and is usually short-lived. Some notable
dictators of this type of government are Ferdinand Marcos and General Noriega (Wintrobe, 2000 ).
 In a tyranny government, coercion and fear is the main foundation of a dictator’s power. Similar
with totalitarian, tyranny has the capability to exercise its power without boundaries. Tyranny was
already introduced during the era of Classical Greece. Aristotle defined tyranny as “Any sole ruler, who is
not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself
to suit his own interest and not theirs”. Some notable Greek tyrants are Peisistratus, and Polycrates.
Their governments were focused on expansion. Tyranny governments did not flourished in Greek due to
the rise of the ideology of Democracy (Lewis, 2014).
Autocracy is where one person holds the supreme power of the land. The leader can be an
emperor, dictator or king depending on the type of government. If the government is a monarchy then,
it is called an absolute monarchy. As the leader has the supreme or absolute power in the government,
he or she has overall control in all aspects of an individual’s life (Heslop, 2017).
Before we talk about why some dictatorships last longer than others or why some are tolerated
by their society and some are not, we must first look into how dictatorships are formed. Dictatorships
are formed due to various reasons. In Rome Republic, Dictatorships arose to solve crises. They have
control of the army but are limited by the Constitution and the Senate (Mackay, 2004). Their term is
limited.
Nazi Dictatorship led by Adolf Hitler rose to power because of several reasons. The major cause
is the drastic situation of Germany after World War I where Germany has to pay for the reparations for
the victims of war. This situation led to the failing of its economy and then the current government at
that time. It is possible to say that people need someone to help them and lift them up from this
problem, and Hitler being a charismatic leader, spread his ideas which they agreed with.
There are also instances where people wanted change and order in their society that’s why
they’re willing to have a dictator. In the case of Singapore, PAP or the People’s Action Party dominated
the government since 1959. Since its domination of the government, rapid development had started
which resulted to the present wealthy Singapore state (Lim & Lee, 2016).
Lee Kwan Yew, has been in power in Singapore for a period of 31 years. He is known to be a
‘benevolent dictator’ that brought Singapore to the state that it is today. A benevolent dictator is a
leader who exercises absolute power to make decisions that are beneficial to the state and its people.
He imposed strict laws on smoking ban, family planning which is related to regulations on tax reliefs and
public housing prioritization; also, imposed forced savings which are deducted from the employees’
salaries.
People have respect for their leader and understand the implications of the laws imposed on
them. Singapore’s campaign on family planning promotes having only 2 children. Citizens’ who will obey
the rule will have higher tax relief and are prioritized for public housing applications. For those who will
not obey will get lower tax reliefs and shorter maternity leaves (Kanagaratnam, 1968). Compulsory
savings can go as high as 20% and employees must add another 16% to it. This policy will be beneficial
later on once the employee retires (Goodman, 2015). This is also beneficial since Singaporeans will no
longer depend on the government once they are retired.
The fast-growing development of Singapore is dependent on the tolerance of the people. Aside
from the strict but beneficial policies, what could possibly be the reason why Singaporeans have so
much tolerance on the strict policies imposed on them? Lee Kwan Yew is the longest serving Prime
Minister in the world. With his 31 years of serving, he brought remarkable development to the country.
One of the possible reasons why people have strong toleration of his strict policies is because of Lee
Kwan Yew’s major involvement in the history of Singapore. During the time of colonization, Lee Kwan
Yew led them to independence to their colonizer, United Kingdom, and became their first Prime
Minister. He was also there when Singapore broke up with Malaysia that led to the independence of
Singapore. Then right after its independence, development followed (Lim & Lee, 2016).
 People tolerate this form of dictatorship or autocracy because they have confidence in their
leader. Also, Singapore is among the least corrupted countries in the world. Corrupted only leads to
ineffective policy implementation and will result to loss of confidence by the people. This is the reason
why some dictatorships failed.
Thomas Hobbes’ works were mostly influenced by the major event in England during his time. It
is the English Civil War, the major cause of instability of government. It is a series of wars between the
Royalists and the Anti-Royalists as a result of the tug of power between the monarch and the Parliament
(Hobbes, 2008).
His work on Leviathan is about why people should obey the government and to want extent
should they tolerate even an imperfect government to prevent the State of War. For Thomas Hobbes,
before the creation of society and government, we are in a State of Nature. In a State of Nature, no
government exist therefore, no order as well. And as he had written, life in State of Nature is ‘nasty,
brutish, and short’. For him, this state is the reason why people formed government and for this reason
that people should obey the government especially the monarch who rules them to prevent going back
to the State of Nature (Hobbes, 2008).
Hobbes’ Social Contract Theory is about the people surrendering a part of their sovereignty
or liberty to their state in exchange of personal security. In return, the state expects the people to obey
the laws and regulations imposed upon them.
In relation with the topic of dictatorship in Singapore, Hobbes wrote that “in monarchy the
private interest is the same with the public” (Hobbes, 2008). PAP became the single dominant party in
Singapore. Although PAP still considers Singapore as a democratic state (due to that electoral system is
still present), having a single dominant party to win almost all sits in government, and the absence of
competition can still be considered democracy (Kanagaratnam, 1968)?
In a study held in Hanyang University, the above-mentioned event can be called “mass
dictatorship. This type of dictatorship occurs when there’s a widespread or popular support for the
dictator. What is unique about this type of dictatorship is that it is a voluntary support of the people for
the dictator and his ideologies (Lim J. , 2004).
Social Contract Dictatorship can only be successful when it is supported by the mass.
However, this type of dictatorship can only be achieved with a strong leadership, competent
government, and backed up with the confidence of the people. Confidence of the people on the policies
executed is important because they are the one who will actualize the policies implemented. The
success of a policy is largely dependent on whether the people will follow or not the policies.

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