Singapore relational constitutionalism: The 'living institution' and the project of religious harmony

This article interrogates the nature and workings of relational constitutionalism in the multi-religious secular polity of Singapore, focusing on the project of maintaining 'religious harmony'. While managing inter-group conflict within rifted polities is a global problem, Singapore may have evolved some unique or unusual approaches in this project. Relational constitutionalism as a method of managing religious harmony brings with it a broader vocabulary of purpose beyond rights in speaking of duties, trust, solidarity, a conciliatory rehabilitative ethos, in service of sustainable relationships. This involves the executive prescribing values through non-binding soft constitutional norms, against the constitutional framework. With a view to pluralising the idea of constitutionalism, the article examines the norms, actors and processes deployed to resolve various 'disharmony crises'. It argues that a public ritual aimed at pacification and promoting solidarity has evolved, and reflects on how constitutions as 'living institutions' manage divided societies.