A relentless crackdown on corruption, top-quality education, polished capitalism – and a meritocratic one-party system: a curious mix for Singapore’s 20th and 21st century success story, with lessons for us to learn. In the super-capitalist, one-party city-state of Southeast Asia, one of the region’s small crises the last 60 years have been a series of incredible stories.

Singapore became independent against its will in 1965, then democratically became a one-party system: in 1996 it overtook Britain in GDP per capita, and in 2007 the United States – while the latter was not scheduled to become independent until 2030. Anikó Magasházi, Head of International Relations at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Keszeg, searches for the magic elixir of Singapore’s catch-up success and tries to bring it to Hungary in her book Singapore Globally Connected.

You can read Mátyás Kohán’s review published on www.mandiner.hu-n HERE in Hungarian!