Developmental state scholars argue that through “embedded autonomy”, state activism can steer society towards positive outcomes without capture by private interests. This paper questions this claim through a case study of such activism in Singapore. It argues that not only may rent-seeking have been encouraged by Singapore’s use of industrial policy but that such a policy goes hand in hand with attempts by state actors to create an economic culture that legitimises such behaviour. The wider implication drawn is that mission-oriented state activism may require extensive cultural engineering to foster consensus over the relevant “missions”, but this level of social penetration also increases the risk of private interests capturing the state in less visible ways.

发展型国家学者认为，通过“嵌入式自治”，国家行动主义可以引导社会取得积极成果，而不会被私人利益所俘获。本文通过对新加坡此类激进主义的案例研究对这一说法提出质疑。它认为，新加坡使用的产业政策不仅可能鼓励寻租，而且这种政策与国家行为者试图创造一种使这种行为合法化的经济文化的努力密切相关。更广泛的含义是，以使命为导向的国家行动主义可能需要广泛的文化工程来促进对相关“使命”的共识，但这种社会渗透水平也增加了私人利益以不那么明显的方式夺取国家的风险。