{"id":28995,"date":"2021-09-08T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T03:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/?p=28995"},"modified":"2021-05-07T12:34:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T04:34:04","slug":"first-world-problems-in-the-third-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/2021\/09\/08\/first-world-problems-in-the-third-world\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFirst world problems\u201d in the \u201cthird world\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Image: Routledge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Singapore has long pursued neoliberal economic policies through international trade, cementing itself as one of the most globalized nations in the world. At the same time, the nation-state remains politically and socially conservative, prioritizing economic and communal well-being over\u00a0individual\u00a0political rights. Therein lies a tension between these ostensibly contradictory positions.<\/p>\n

In \u201c\u2018First world problems\u2019 in the \u2018third world\u2019?\u201d (Criminal Legalities in the Global South<\/em>, 2020), Dr. George\u00a0Radics\u00a0(NUS Sociology) notes that as a result of these prioritizations, we only\u00a0observe\u00a0incremental progressive social and cultural developments when the country\u2019s financial well-being is at stake. Dr.\u00a0Radics\u00a0points out that the rights of Singapore\u2019s LGBT community, in particular, shift\u00a0in accordance with\u00a0the political and\u00a0economic conditions of Singapore. Dr.\u00a0Radics\u00a0outlines the nation-state\u2019s complex relationship with\u00a0LGBT\u00a0rights and how its developmental history serves as a case study worth examining.<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Radics\u00a0notes that stable and sustained macroeconomic growth\u00a0was perceived\u00a0as fundamental to Singapore\u2019s survival after its separation from Malaysia on 9th<\/sup>\u00a0August 1965. As a result, the Singapore government prioritized macroeconomic growth over political freedoms. At the same time, the government also pursued social and political conditions that would promote its\u00a0larger goal of rapid economic growth. The government adopted an iron-fisted approach towards\u00a0the management of\u00a0its social and political landscape. Dr. Radics cites\u00a0statutes\u00a0like the Religious Harmony Act, Internal Security Act, and Societies Act as tools the government has at its disposal to restrict civil liberties and\u00a0eliminate\u00a0political dissent. Originally intended to govern the colony, British laws\u00a0were adopted\u00a0and modified to limit political freedoms. Consequently, the rights of the\u00a0LGBT\u00a0community in Singapore were rarely demanded.<\/p>\n

Dr. Radics points out that the government refuses to express support for\u00a0LGBT\u00a0groups in the country. He\u00a0argues that the\u00a0LGBT\u00a0community\u00a0is allowed\u00a0to exist within a narrowly defined political space in Singapore, the boundaries of which\u00a0are delineated by the\u00a0state\u2019s discourse of \u201cAsian Values.\u201d According to Dr.\u00a0Radics, \u201cAsian Values\u201d was the government\u2019s response to perceived Western moral degradation that arose from the general increase in the socioeconomic status of Singaporeans. Such discourse has been effective in justifying Section\u00a0377A\u00a0and exercising control over Pink Dot SG, an annual event organized to express support for the\u00a0LGBT\u00a0community in Singapore.<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Radics\u00a0concludes by pointing out that tension arises from Singapore\u2019s traditional \u201cAsian Values\u201d and its\u00a0reputation\u00a0as a global hub in a rapidly changing global environment. He raises the sustained success of Pink Dot SG and the judicial challenges to\u00a0377A as evidence of this tension within the nation-state. In a broader scope, the case of Singapore demonstrates that in the Global South, economic progress does not guarantee that resolving social and political issues is a straightforward process.<\/p>\n

Access the book here.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Singapore has long pursued neoliberal economic policies through international trade, cementing itself as one of the most globalized nations in the world. At the same time, the nation-state remains politically and socially conservative, prioritizing economic and communal well-being over\u00a0individual\u00a0political rights. Therein lies a tension between these ostensibly contradictory positions. In \u201c\u2018First world problems\u2019 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":28981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28997,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28995\/revisions\/28997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}