ABSTRACT
Brunei, which had a population of only around 324,000 in 1998, possesses vast reserves of oil and natural gas. These have enabled it to lever its economy into providing an enviable standard of living for its population and enormous wealth for its ruling family, led by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, along with a network of close nonroyal collaborators. Accordingly the country has been identified by analysts, variously, as conforming to the economic model of a "rentier state" (see Colclough or Gunn), or as suffering from "Dutch disease effects" (see Cleary and Wong).
