SAMSU and the International House Global Voices Program are organizing three forums over 2014-15 to highlight and discuss some of the contemporary challenges facing Singapore as it celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence in 2015. The small island-nation in Southeast Asia has thrived against the odds to become one of the more advanced economies. Yet, as the income gap widens and the influx of new migrants stretches its infrastructure, the young nation’s nascent self-identity becomes a topic of discussion, while the dominant party-government remains apprehensive about Western-style freedoms.

Professor Jeffrey Winters (Political Science, Northwestern) will be lecturing on “Oligarchy, Democracy, and Law in Singapore: The Politics of Wealth Power and Wealth Defense.” Professor Winters is the Director of the Equality Development and Globalization Studies Program at Northwestern University. His most recent book Oligarchy (Cambridge University Press, 2011) compares how wealthy minorities maintain their power against the majorities in history and across contemporary Southeast Asia and America.

Free and open to the public.