Singapore's conception of the liberal international order as a small state

Abstract

Abstract The liberal international order (LIO) is undergoing significant challenges, and this has given rise to debates about its purported decline. In this context, most studies of the LIO focus on major powers with little attention paid to small states’ conceptualizations of the LIO despite its ubiquity in international life. Focusing on the Singaporean case as a small state, it asks the question: how does Singapore conceptualize the LIO and what are the effects of this conceptualization? Through a mixed-method thematic analysis of 192 parliamentary replies, media interviews and United Nations speeches by Singaporean officials between 2000 to 2022, I find Singapore accepting and defending the existing international order in two main ways: demonstrating respect for international law and the UN Charter, and supporting economic liberalism. Meanwhile, Singapore is contesting the universality of liberal democracy as it sees such discourse as a rebuke to its single-party dominant governance model. This perception of the LIO, in turn, informs Singapore's order-maintaining, order-modifying and order-contesting practices: it seeks to not only protect, but also to modify the LIO—through institutional and legal initiatives—to make it more equitable and open, giving us a glimpse into an instance of a small state's agency in relation to the LIO.