Author Description

This book is a collection of essays first presented by leaders from the state, market, and civic sectors at a national dialogue on civil society in Singapore, organized by the Institute of Policy Studies, in May 1998. It is set in the context of current thinking on development and governance, where there has been a paradigm shift from viewing state and civil society as a zero-sum, adversarial relationship to viewing it as having the potential for synergies. It records an initial response to this new notion across the sectors represented. In effect, it also reflects the current condition of state-society relations some years since the People's Action Party government indicated it welcomed a greater role for civil society.