Singapore’s stand on Russia’s war against Ukraine: Hobson’s choice?

Abstract

Singapore’s unilateral decision to censure Russia for its war on Ukraine is best seen in the light of the island nation’s evolving approach to the twin interrelated concerns of strategic uncertainty caused by great power conflict, on the one hand, and the prospect of coercion by great powers on states within their strategic orbits on the other. In recent years, Singapore’s foreign policy conduct has come to be shaped by an enlightened self-interest, as embodied by its commitment to advocating for the rules-based international order and the interests and rights of small states. Singapore’s firm stand against Russia is equally a function of that evolution.