Izni Bin Noor Alie defends thesis on Islamic governmentality and food business development in Brunei

The model is built on a proposition of integrating five components in Islamic governance for effective halal governmentality. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality, he employs ‘Islamic governmentality’ to explore the interplay of political rationalities and governing technologies used in halal governance. He draws on Dean’s (2010) Analytics of Government and the impact on Brunei’s food businesses in delving into Brunei’s halal certification programme in the food industry. 

His research analysed interviews with the governor of the Halal Food Control Division as well as the Division’s social media. Interviews underscored the significant role of the monarchy in shaping political rationalities for halalisation and the use of diverse governing technologies, such as the Quran and the Hadith and industrial halal. Analysis of social media revealed the digital space for socialisation, knowledge production, sharing, and creating halal behavioural standards. It also brings to light the existence of various governmentalities within halal certification governance. 

Insights from business surveys and interviews highlight the challenges in translating the idealised vision of Islamic governance into actual practices, including information asymmetries, ineffective knowledge-sharing, and personalised halal certification processes. Economically, businesses face escalated production costs, limited market access, and imbalanced power dynamics with standard-setters, which impeded growth. These findings offer evidence of the impact of halal governance when Islamic governmentality, a concept that remains largely theoretical in contemporary Islamic ethics and governance fields, is put into action. 

Furthermore, assessing governmentality and its effects on the governed subject in this study provides extended linkages that Foucauldian governmentality scholars have yet to make clear, a novelty in its own terms. This is imperative as the world is in the middle of a transition, with more efforts being put into materialising the vision 2030 via the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).