“Technocratic Socialism”: The Political Thought of Lee Kuan Yew and Devan Nair (1954–1976)

IF 2 2区社会学 Q1 AREA STUDIES

Journal of Contemporary Asia Pub Date : 2022-07-07 DOI:10.1080/00472336.2022.2086480

Quah Say Jye

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Abstract

Abstract Despite initially expressing a firm commitment to socialism and its ideals, the People’s Action Party’s socialist roots remain curiously under-explored. To take a first step in reconstructing the party leadership’s understanding of socialism from 1954 to 1976, this article investigates the socialist political thought of two of their key figures – founding Secretary-General Lee Kuan Yew and stalwart union leader Devan Nair. This article reconstructs Lee and Nair’s theory of socialism that it terms “technocratic socialism.” It draws from the historiographical method of Quentin Skinner to read Lee and Nair as intervening in their specific Cold War and decolonisation context, where socialism was dominated by Marxism-Leninism. Four key overlapping tenets of the theory are posited: (i) a loose form of historical materialism; (ii) a conception of the technocratic elite as the privileged subject; (iii) equality of opportunity as a moral principle; and (iv) a geo-political position which emphasised non-alignment, material development, and power politics. The article concludes with discussion of technocratic socialism’s socialist credentials.

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“技术官僚社会主义”:李光耀与戴文·奈尔的政治思想(1954-1976)

摘要尽管人民行动党最初表达了对社会主义及其理想的坚定承诺，但其社会主义根源仍然被奇怪地低估了。为了迈出重建1954年至1976年党领导层对社会主义认识的第一步，本文考察了他们的两位关键人物——开国秘书长李光耀和坚定的工会领袖德凡·奈尔的社会主义政治思想。本文重构了李和奈尔的社会主义理论，称之为“技术官僚社会主义”。它借鉴了昆汀·斯金纳的史学方法，将李和奈尔尔解读为在他们特定的冷战和非殖民化背景下进行干预，在那里，社会主义由马列主义主导。该理论提出了四个关键的重叠原则：（i）历史唯物主义的松散形式；（ii）将技术官僚精英视为特权主体的概念；三机会平等作为一项道德原则；以及（iv）强调不结盟、物质发展和强权政治的地缘政治立场。文章最后讨论了技术官僚社会主义的社会主义资格。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Contemporary Asia AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

4.90

自引率

9.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Contemporary Asia is an established refereed publication, it appears quarterly and has done so since 1970. When the journal was established, it was conceived as providing an alternative to mainstream perspectives on contemporary Asian issues. The journal maintains this tradition and seeks to publish articles that deal with the broad problems of economic, political and social development of Asia. Articles on economic development issues, political economy, agriculture, planning, the working class, people"s movements, politics and power, imperialism and empire, international financial institutions, the environment, and economic history are especially welcomed.