A Big Frog in a Small Pond or a Giant of Asia?
Understanding the Political Leadership Style of Lee Kuan Yew
Amanda Herath (2014462044)
GSIS- 2nd Semester- 2015- Spring
Abstract
The passing of a national political leader, widely regarded as a world figure, marked the beginning of the year 2015. The long standing Senior Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew left an undeniably significant mark upon the political leadership sphere. In order to assess his intriguing leadership style I will be using three theoretical models namely; Kouzes and Posner Model (1995), Blondel Model (1987) and Simonton Model (1988). The paper will mainly focus on the Lee Kuan Yew’s attempts at building a new Singaporean Identity from a multiethnic pluralistic society. By this exercise I try to answer the question of whether another leader can adopt Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership style as a guiding principle.
1. Introduction
Leadership is as old as mankind. It is universally present in every aspect of human society. From the smallest unit of family to the nation-state, leadership is omnipresent and inescapable. Among these leaders that we see in our day to day life political leaders …show more content…
They wanted to make Chinese the official language. Lee stamped on the idea at once. Singapore would become a multiracial nation. There would be a Singaporean, not a Chinese identity” (Josey, 1980)
From the above quotations from Lee’s speeches and from documents of his colleagues we can come to the conclusion that Lee took the initiative to inspire a shared vision of building a Singaporean identity based on multiracialism. According to Barr (1999) Lee Kuan Yew himself harbored the notions of racial and cultural supremacists beliefs regarding the superiority of Chinese genes and culture above the Indian or Malay genes and culture. Then why he took the initiative for implementing a Singaporean identity based on
Understanding the Political Leadership Style of Lee Kuan Yew
Amanda Herath (2014462044)
GSIS- 2nd Semester- 2015- Spring
Abstract
The passing of a national political leader, widely regarded as a world figure, marked the beginning of the year 2015. The long standing Senior Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew left an undeniably significant mark upon the political leadership sphere. In order to assess his intriguing leadership style I will be using three theoretical models namely; Kouzes and Posner Model (1995), Blondel Model (1987) and Simonton Model (1988). The paper will mainly focus on the Lee Kuan Yew’s attempts at building a new Singaporean Identity from a multiethnic pluralistic society. By this exercise I try to answer the question of whether another leader can adopt Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership style as a guiding principle.
1. Introduction
Leadership is as old as mankind. It is universally present in every aspect of human society. From the smallest unit of family to the nation-state, leadership is omnipresent and inescapable. Among these leaders that we see in our day to day life political leaders …show more content…
They wanted to make Chinese the official language. Lee stamped on the idea at once. Singapore would become a multiracial nation. There would be a Singaporean, not a Chinese identity” (Josey, 1980)
From the above quotations from Lee’s speeches and from documents of his colleagues we can come to the conclusion that Lee took the initiative to inspire a shared vision of building a Singaporean identity based on multiracialism. According to Barr (1999) Lee Kuan Yew himself harbored the notions of racial and cultural supremacists beliefs regarding the superiority of Chinese genes and culture above the Indian or Malay genes and culture. Then why he took the initiative for implementing a Singaporean identity based on