The characteristics that make Singapore improbable—its being thrown into independence against its will, its unique, territorially removed Sinocentrism, its non-socialist social corporatism, and its illiberal-democratic liberalism—are themselves an improbable combination of characteristics. This is what makes Singapore singular, and endows it with such multitudes. It is also what makes it so easy for outsiders to misunderstand and thus stereotype the place, and so hard to truly fathom it. I promise you this: I will keep trying, and you may eavesdrop on my further progress, if any.

…Adam Garfinkle is the founding editor of The American Interest and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University.