Lee Kuan Yew: Machiavellist mit Konfuzianischer Maske

Abstract The price for Singapore's economic successes were the restrictions of the population's freedom. Since the eighties, a social change can be observed which is leading the population to reject the authoritarian rule and the restrictions of freedom. Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP administration, which refuse any democratic change, are trying to re-legitimize themselves with the thesis of a "Confucian Capitalism". At the same time, the government is trying to discipline its people by a Confucianization of society. In the West, the thesis of a "Confucian Capitalism" is also widely accepted, even though there is no doubt that Lee Kuan Yew and PAP use this thesis as an instrument to legitimate their authoritarian rule.