ARI Working Paper Series

Studies of hegemonic domination, even in authoritarian states, have tended to focus on ideology and consensus, treating coercion as a straightforward matter that does not need to be problematised. This essay attempts to redress the balance, arguing that states have a range of repressive tools at their disposal, which they need to use intelligently if they are to maintain their hegemony. Self-restrained, calibrated coercion is that which represses challengers with minimum political cost. Calibrated coercion is illustrated through an in-depth case study of press controls in Singapore, where one of the world’s most successful hegemonic parties has governed continuously for four decades.