Tactical Globalization Learning from the Singapore experiment

«Singapore continues to fascinate, and Koh’s analysis is a valuable contribution to the literature on why this is so. Koh argues this powerful city state productively uses narratives around globalisation and crisis to advance agendas for change, and that education is central to this process». (Professor Susan L. Robertson, Centre for Globalisation, Education and Societies, University of Bristol)



«In ‘Tactical Globalization’, Aaron Koh provides an instructive analysis of the role of education policy in Singapore in relation to globalization conceived as a ‘problem space’. Koh also provides broader methodological, theoretical and empirical insights through focusing on how one small, strong city-state has taken an effective tactical role to produce productive citizens who ‘go global’ but ‘stay local’. As such, this book is must-read for sociologists of education, policy analysts and comparative educators». (Professor Bob Lingard, The University of Queensland)



«This is a fascinating case study of how the tiny city-state of Singapore has become a global economic hub while also maintaining a strong national identity. Koh argues that Singapore sees globalisation as a ‘problem space’ and responds to it in shrewd, strategic and enabling ways. He shows that the education of Singapore’s ‘only natural resource’, its people, is pivotal. In this elegantly argued book, Koh develops a theory of ‘tactical globalisation’ thus contributing significantly to understandings of the shifting and variable phenomenon called globalization». (Professor Jane Kenway, Faculty of Education, Monash University)