Upwards' or 'Sideways' Cosmopolitanism? Talent/Labour/Marriage Migrations in the Globalising City-State of Singapore

Abstract

In many globalising cities across Asia, migration is now viewed as a key measure to tackle labour shortages, population ageing, and economic competitiveness. Singapore presents an example of a city-state that has become increasingly reliant on both high-skilled and low-skilled labour migrations, and to an increasing degree, also marriage migration, to fuel its bid to become a cosmopolis occupying a significant site in the globalised economy. The article discusses both state and civil society arrangements and relationships which, to different extents and in different ways, present opportunities for and constraints upon the emergence of cosmopolitanism. While Singapore's migration history and multi-racial legacy provide a possible framework to build cosmopolitan sensibilities, it charts a pathway ridden with considerable contradictions as the city-state forges its own globalised future.