Singapore’s ’Total Defence’ Strategy

Singapore launched its Total Defence strategy in 1984. It was one of the first countries in the modern era to enact such a policy based on an expanded interpretation of national security. Conventionally defence equates to military security, but for Singapore this approach was too limiting. There was a recognition that defence and development were intertwined and accordingly the authorities sought to exploit the synergies from adopting an integrative security approach. Total Defence thus emerged, manifesting itself as a blend of soft ‘social resilience’ elements designed to foster collectivism and national identity, and the harder industrial and technological dynamics of ‘defence capability’. The resulting civil-military overlay, along with the government’s imperative to push the boundaries of innovational endeavour, has enabled Singapore to achieve a remarkable cultural, economic and military transformation. In the process, it has achieved rapid expansion of both defence ‘and’ development, leaving most other contemporary post-colonial states in its wake. Yet, the uncertain and turbulent global environment over recent years has revealed possible emerging fault lines in the Total Defence model that the Singaporean authorities would be well advised to heed, and, if possible, resolve.