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Behind Brunei’s COVID-19 success story 28 January 2021 Authors: Nadia Azierah Hamdan and William Case, University of Nottingham Malaysia In regime studies, Brunei Darussalam is typically cast as an absolute monarchy, in some renditions the most coercive form of rule. But in practice the Sultanate’s politics remains relatively benign. In coping effectively with the COVID-19 pandemic, Brunei has taken a ‘whole of government’ approach. This is constitutive of a broader practice of ‘repressive but responsive politics ’, distinguished by the state’s nurturing loyalties among its citizens through its provision of public sector positions and comprehensive welfare schemes, but also securing...
