Abstract
Of all the economies of Southeast Asia, Singapore's has been most completely incorporated into the structure of the new international division of labour (NIDL). The explanation for this lies in the peculiar and historically specific circumstances of Singapore's social structure in the 1960s. These account for both the inclination of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) to consider an export-oriented industrialisation (EOI) strategy under the aegis of international capital, as well as the capacity to implement such a strategy. In particular, the degree of relative political autonomy from both capital and labour, which the PAP came to enjoy, had placed economic policy formation in Singapore in a somewhat different context from that of neighbouring economies.