新加坡对可持续性的研究及不断变化的社会科学研究景观

Sustainability studies and the changing landscape of social science research in Singapore

自1965年获得独立以来,新加坡一向注重发展硬科学,投入甚多。在建国最初的几十年里,政府很重视治理成效的合法性,特别强调生存能力和经济进展问题。对于硬科学发展的重视,预示了关于可持续性的研究的良好前景。如今,随着新加坡在全球经济繁荣排行榜上名列前茅,与国政建设(state-building)问题相比,这个城市国家开始更多研究国家建设(nation-building)问题。出现这种现象的一部分原因,是在人力资本方面投入巨大的柔性专制体制存在的矛盾,因为从长远看,受过教育的选民会成为积极、知情的公民,他们会希望有效地参政议政。新加坡社会科学的面貌在逐渐改变,学界正在抛弃"新加坡独特论"这一夸大该城市国家特殊性的主导叙事,尝试从一种比较的视角来审视新加坡模式。

The Singapore government has traditionally invested heavily in, and focused on, the development of the hard sciences since gaining independence in 1965. This bode well for the fate of sustainable studies as the state, in the initial decades, focused heavily on performance legitimacy, emphasising issues of survivability and economic progress. With the country now at the top of global charts on many rankings on economic prosperity, the city-state has steadily begun to examine issues of nation-building rather than state-building. This can be attributed, in part, to the paradox of soft authoritarian regimes that invest heavily in human capital, because in the long run, an educated electorate will want, as active and informed citizens, to participate effectively in politics. The social sciences are slowly evolving to look at the Singapore model from a comparative perspective, moving away from the dominant narrative of "Singaporean exceptionalism", which overstates the uniqueness of the city-state.