A Study Of Authoritarian Politics In Singapore With Institutional Absorption’s Perspective

The development process of authoritarian politics in Singapore showed an obvious characteristic of institutional absorption, which can provide some explanation for the establishment and maintenance of authoritarian system in Singapore. The process of the formation and development of authoritarian politics in Singapore were studied by building the analytic framework of "institutional absorption- strength change of different factions- institutional transformation or maintenance". Historical and system research methods were used when combing the history of authoritarian politics in Singapore.Institutional absorption can change the power balance of different political factions, which has impact on the transformation and maintenance of political system. Institutional absorption can be divided into positive and preventing reverse absorption. Specifically speaking, when it was at the formation stage of authoritarian politics, the Singapore’s democracy had strong positive absorption capacity, while the preventing reverse absorption capacity was weaker. The congress was able to absorb the opposition parties to elections, while unable to stop the exit. This made the main political parties get out of democracy. The ruling People’s Action Party violated the democratic principles and cracked down on the opposition parties, forcing them to exit the Congress. Therefore, the PAP’s one party dominance began, lacking of restriction and constrains. The democratic system only existed in name. The People’s Action Party established authoritarian system in Singapore, realizing the transformation from democracy to authoritarian.At the development stage of authoritarian politics, the parliamentary system in form was retained, when the positive and preventing reverse absorption capacity of authoritarian system were both strong. The Congress absorbed a certain amount of opposition’s members; the People’s Action Party and its government also absorbed a large number of social elites. Meanwhile, the elites were stabilized by punishing on the behavior of exiting system and establishing strict promotion system, which raised the cost of exiting. These reasons were all accountable for the absolute advantage of the People’s Action Party over the opposition parties in comparison of power, which facilitated the long-term stability of authoritarian system.