Brunei: building and enshrining an absolute monarchy

Brunei Darussalam is one of the few remaining absolute monarchies in the world today. In an era that sees countries move towards democratisation, Brunei has moved towards the entrenchment of its absolute monarchy. With that in mind, the question this thesis seeks to examine is how Brunei has managed to remain an absolute monarchy in the face of global democratisation, particularly given that it was under the British sphere of influence until 1984. What are the reasons behind Brunei’s exceptionalism in development and will these reasons allow Brunei to remain an absolute monarchy? To answer the central question, this research looks at constitutional developments in the light of Brunei’s history, traditions, culture and society. The research undertaken to answer this question has been purely doctrinal in nature. The primary reason this approach was adopted was because the nature of Brunei’s absolute monarchy has resulted in general disinclination in the country to discuss matters of local politics frankly. This has resulted in a distinct lack of authoritative research about Brunei in most fields. The contribution that this research makes to the subject is that, it is the first research that attempts to explain the existence of the constitutional anomaly that is the absolute monarchy of Brunei, through a contextual understanding of Brunei’s constitutional journey. Drawing on historical, legal, political and sociological elements, this thesis concludes that the absolute monarchy of Brunei was built by the restructuring of traditional governance by the British, entrenched by the manipulation of constitutional provisions by the Sultan and enshrined through the use of nation building ideology also by the Sultan. This ideology being so successfully implanted into Brunei society over the last thirty years, barring the entry of new variables, it seems likely that Brunei will remain an absolute monarchy in the years to come