Individual assignment on Designing Comparative Political Research
Comparative political research
Name Roan Buma
Date 1 November 2019, Amsterdam
Lecturer P.J.M. Pennings
Words 4233
, Research problem
Urbanization has been a great challenge in most developing countries. In the twentieth century,
particularly East Asian countries have had to deal with this challenge because of rapid growth.
How these countries have dealt with the problems and how effective those efforts were, differs.
One way of dealing with the problem is through state funded public housing provisions. As
Chiu (2013) phrases it, public housing provisions in Asian Countries range from absolute
dominance like in Singapore and significant presence in Hong Kong, to minor existence in for
example Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
As examined by Drakakis-Smith & Yeung (1977), during to the seventies Singapore
and Hong Kong were already frequently mentioned as examples of successful government
attempts to cope with housing shortages. While some competing explanations have been given
by researchers on public housing and housing reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore (Wan
1975; Yeh 1975; Drakakis-Smith & Yeung 1977; Keung 1985; Yip 2014), no comprehensive
study has been done into the causal processes that led to these successful reforms, and no study
so far has compared and tested these explanations. In this research, I will study the causal
mechanisms behind the successful housing reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Drakakis-Smith & Yeung (1977) argued that the cases of Hong Kong and Singapore
could potentially serve as potential reservoirs of experience for other Third World cities in Asia
with growing urban housing problems. As time has passed, Asian countries like South Korea
and Japan have moved from a Third World status to joining the world’s leading and
economically significant OECD economies (Doling & Ronald, 2014). This raises the question
whether the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong have any relevance for society at all.
Retrospectively, the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong can still serve as sources of
knowledge, as recently there seems to be a revival in public housing and housing reforms in
Asian and other emerging urban economies (Chen, Stephens & Man, 2013). Affordable
housing shortage remains a worldwide social issue which requires attention. Additionally, the
knowledge gained from this research could be used by new emerging economies of Africa or
from the G77 group.
Population of the case study
Since this research is about public housing success in Hong Kong and Singapore, it follows
that the population should encompass all cases of public housing from East Asia and South
East Asia, as Honk Kong and Singapore are situated within these regions, respectively. To
determine which countries to include in this research, I will use the Standard Country or Area
1
Comparative political research
Name Roan Buma
Date 1 November 2019, Amsterdam
Lecturer P.J.M. Pennings
Words 4233
, Research problem
Urbanization has been a great challenge in most developing countries. In the twentieth century,
particularly East Asian countries have had to deal with this challenge because of rapid growth.
How these countries have dealt with the problems and how effective those efforts were, differs.
One way of dealing with the problem is through state funded public housing provisions. As
Chiu (2013) phrases it, public housing provisions in Asian Countries range from absolute
dominance like in Singapore and significant presence in Hong Kong, to minor existence in for
example Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
As examined by Drakakis-Smith & Yeung (1977), during to the seventies Singapore
and Hong Kong were already frequently mentioned as examples of successful government
attempts to cope with housing shortages. While some competing explanations have been given
by researchers on public housing and housing reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore (Wan
1975; Yeh 1975; Drakakis-Smith & Yeung 1977; Keung 1985; Yip 2014), no comprehensive
study has been done into the causal processes that led to these successful reforms, and no study
so far has compared and tested these explanations. In this research, I will study the causal
mechanisms behind the successful housing reforms in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Drakakis-Smith & Yeung (1977) argued that the cases of Hong Kong and Singapore
could potentially serve as potential reservoirs of experience for other Third World cities in Asia
with growing urban housing problems. As time has passed, Asian countries like South Korea
and Japan have moved from a Third World status to joining the world’s leading and
economically significant OECD economies (Doling & Ronald, 2014). This raises the question
whether the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong have any relevance for society at all.
Retrospectively, the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong can still serve as sources of
knowledge, as recently there seems to be a revival in public housing and housing reforms in
Asian and other emerging urban economies (Chen, Stephens & Man, 2013). Affordable
housing shortage remains a worldwide social issue which requires attention. Additionally, the
knowledge gained from this research could be used by new emerging economies of Africa or
from the G77 group.
Population of the case study
Since this research is about public housing success in Hong Kong and Singapore, it follows
that the population should encompass all cases of public housing from East Asia and South
East Asia, as Honk Kong and Singapore are situated within these regions, respectively. To
determine which countries to include in this research, I will use the Standard Country or Area
1
