To what does Singapore owe its success? To answer this question, it is necessary to look at Singapore’s earlier history – an area that has largely been neglected in mainstream discourse but extensively explored by historians. A look into the early development of Singapore unveils its steep and robust foundations in free trade.
The “protectionist” view is that people are actually not individuals but part of a collective entity, a nation or state or people, that has a prior claim on them over and above their own interests and welfare. The division between free trade and protection is actually one of the main aspects of the much deeper contrast and division between individualism and collectivism. The view anyone takes of this matter reveals something about their basic foundational assumptions and beliefs in ways that few other questions do.
Recent Comments