The ‘Beijing consensus’ and the ‘Singapore model’: unmasking the myth of an alternative authoritarian state-capitalist model

Abstract

What is today touted as the ‘Beijing consensus’ or the ‘China model’ is nothing more than a resized version of the ‘Singapore model’ or an attempt to revive the developmental state. In particular, the ‘Beijing consensus’ assumes a greater role for the state in the economy under authoritarian rule. Since Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992, Chinese academics, politicians, and administrators have flocked to the soft-authoritarian city-state and the result has not only been a sprawling discourse but also a number of political reforms aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the state and strengthening one-party rule. An analysis of this discourse shows that while providing Chinese policy-makers with many important ideas, these studies reveal serious weaknesses in China's attempt to follow the ‘Singapore model’. Instead of having found an alternative authoritarian state-capitalist model, the ‘Beijing consensus’ is only a transitory phase.