Reconciling multiple economic multilateralisms: The case of singapore

The Singapore state devotes a high degree of its technocratic resources to economic diplomacy activities on various fronts. As a small, open and globalized city-state economy, Singapore’s prosperity is highly dependent upon the continued health and stability of the international economic system. Thus, “systemic security” objectives are afforded notable priority within the framework of Singapore’s foreign economic policy (FEP). This article examines how the pursuit of such objectives is revealed through various forms of multilateral economic diplomacy. More specifically, it identifies important conflicts of interest therein, for example, in Singapore’s approach to recent developments both in regional economic multilateralism in East Asia and global economic multilateralism. The Singapore state’s dealings with the “value-based” issues (such as, labour and environment) embodied in the “new” or “complex” multilateralism also presents a key FEP challenge.