Singapore’s Successful Experience In Building The Rule Of Law And Its Enlightenment To Developing Countries

At present,the research on the construction of the rule of law in the country is becoming more and more in-depth,and Singapore has attracted widespread attention due to its economic take-off speed and transformation from colonies to developed countries,and Singapore’s rule of law construction has been recognized worldwide,so the study of Singapore’s successful experience in the construction of the rule of law,on the one hand,helps to improve the understanding of the rule of law in developed countries,on the other hand,it can also provide theoretical reference for developing countries.It is precisely by adopting a development model that combines social values and development goals in line with its national conditions that Singapore has been able to promote the rapid development of the country.Foreign scholars generally start from Singapore’s political construction and rule of law polity model,and domestic scholars mainly focus on the description and interpretation of Singapore’s rule of law model in the early stage,and explore the rule of law to the dimension of the concept of democratic rule of law construction in the later stage.This paper is mainly divided into five parts.The first part first gives a general interpretation of the background and research significance of the research on Singapore,aiming to provide developing countries with practical reference for the construction of the rule of law,and briefly introduces the current research status at home and abroad.Secondly,in the second part,starting from the definition of the rule of law,this paper explains the concept of the Western scholar Albert.V.Dickey’s concept of rule of law since modern times,as well as the concept of rule of law with Singapore’s own characteristics,which is a unique rule of law framework established according to its own actual situation.The third part starts from the actual background of Singapore’s rule of law construction,explaining how Singapore started from a poor port city to a developed country in the context of colonization,and how the laws left by the colonial imprint are integrated and inherited with local laws and Eastern Confucian Legalist civilization.After detailing the background of the construction of the rule of law,the basic pattern of Singapore’s legal system is explained from the four dimensions of legislative,administrative,judicial,civil and commercial law.Besides,in terms of legislative policy,Singapore adopts a relatively strict legal policy in public law,and adopts a rather flexible legislative attitude towards private law in order to promote economic development.Singapore is a multi-racial,multicultural country,so the fourth part gives subsequent introduction about the influence of the legal system.Singapore’s rule of law is inseparable from the shaping of national values and the top-level design of the concept of rule of law,“regardless of race,language or religion” and“Asian values” are deeply rooted in the minds of Singaporean people,which also highlights the latecomer advantage of the cultivation of the concept of rule of law in Singapore,and the Singapore government is also making a series of adjustment policies for the shaping of national values.The fifth part outlines Singapore’s lessons learned from developing countries and its implications for national governance.In general,Singapore’s rule of law has achieved a good integration of the legal system and the concept of the rule of law.While developing the economy,it pays attention to building the rule of law based on its own practice,and its development courage is difficult for many countries to match.For developing countries,the Singapore model is also difficult to replicate to some extent.Singapore also has shortcomings in its own development process,such as attaching importance to economic development and neglecting the construction of spiritual civilization.The publicity of common social values has compressed the space for social freedom and democratic thinking,which also raises questions for developing countries to think twice: Should a country develop the rule of law with characteristics of democracy first or directly appropriated a complete rule of law model? Its useful experience in the rule of law for Singapore is worthy of dialectical reference,and it can draw on its legislation and judicial technology to help realize the modernization of the rule of law in developing countries.