However,the contemporary global context,in which the state's economic role is generally in decline, poses a challenge to the legitimacy and credibility of developmental states in East and Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore. As the process of intensive globalization of market forces and the expansive power of transnational corporations have rendered the economic functions of government less relevant in most countries, the nature of the state is increasingly being defined worldwide as the"hollow" state, the managerial or the"proxy state. this age withdrawal or rolling back of the state",the continuing economic involvement and developmental role of the state in Singapore has become a matter of critical study.