Singapore Can't Rely Anymore on a World Order Led by the US

It must deepen Asian relations to thrive in a post-Trump scenario

- HAL BRANDS

If you want a glimpse of a changing global order, go to Singapore. That's what I did last month, when I served as the S. Rajaratnam Professor of Strategic Studies at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies and met with leading thinkers and government officials. Singapore is a mind-blowing success story that reminds us how distinctive America's post-World War II global project was—and also how much uncertainty today's abrasive superpower is creating for smaller states.

Singapore gained its independence unwillingly in 1965, after being booted from the larger Malaysian Federation. It was immediately at risk of being engulfed by radicalism convulsing the region. Yet, it went on to become a hub of trade and technology with living standards among the highest in the world. Its small but tough military and its strategy-minded elite have helped Singapore punch above its global weight. The island has become a model for other nations that aspire to be 'the Singapore of somewhere'—small states that somehow make it big.