Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire

Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire
Author: Carter Vaughn Findley
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2012-05-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 140082009X

From the author's preface: Sublime Porte--there must be few terms more redolent, even today, of the fascination that the Islamic Middle East has long exercised over Western imaginations. Yet there must also be few Western minds that now know what this term refers to, or why it has any claim to attention. One present-day Middle East expert admits to having long interpreted the expression as a reference to Istambul's splendid natural harbor. This individual is probably not unique and could perhaps claim to be relatively well informed. When the Sublime Porte still existed, Westerners who spent time in Istanbul knew the term as a designation for the Ottoman government, but few knew why the name was used, or what aspect of the Ottoman government it properly designated. What was the real Sublime Porte? Was it an organization? A building? No more, literally, than a door or gateway? What about it was important enough to cause the name to be remembered? In one sense, the purpose of this book is to answer these questions. Of course, it will also do much more and will, in the process, move quickly onto a plane quite different from the exoticism just invoked. For to study the bureaucratic complex properly known as the Sublime Porte, and to analyze its evolution and that of the body of men who staffed it, is to explore a problem of tremendous significance for the development of the administrative institutions of the Ottoman Empire, the Islamic lands in general, and in some senses the entire non-Westerrn world.

Empires and Bureaucracy in World History

Empires and Bureaucracy in World History
Author: Peter Crooks
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2016-08-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 131672106X

How did empires rule different peoples across vast expanses of space and time? And how did small numbers of imperial bureaucrats govern large numbers of subordinated peoples? Empires and Bureaucracy in World History seeks answers to these fundamental problems in imperial studies by exploring the power and limits of bureaucracy. The book is pioneering in bringing together historians of antiquity and the Middle Ages with scholars of post-medieval European empires, while a genuinely world-historical perspective is provided by chapters on China, the Incas and the Ottomans. The editors identify a paradox in how bureaucracy operated on the scale of empires and so help explain why some empires endured for centuries while, in the contemporary world, empires fail almost before they begin. By adopting a cross-chronological and world-historical approach, the book challenges the abiding association of bureaucratic rationality with 'modernity' and the so-called 'Rise of the West'.

Ottoman Civil Officialdom

Ottoman Civil Officialdom
Author: Carter Vaughn Findley
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400860113

In this sequel to his highly acclaimed Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire, Carter Findley shifts focus from the organizational aspects of administrative reform and development to the officials themselves. A study in social history and its cultural and economic ramifications, Findley's new book critically reassesses Ottoman accomplishments and failures in turning an archaic scribal corps into an effective civil service. Combining scrutiny of well-documented individuals with analyses of large groups of officials, Findley considers how much the development of civil officialdom benefited Ottoman efforts to revitalize the state and protect its interests in an increasingly competitive world. Did reformers' initiatives in elite formation significantly broaden the social bases of officialdom and its capacity to represent Ottoman society? Did prospective officials profit from educational reform so as to achieve higher levels of qualification over the generations? How did cultural tensions of the reform era affect civil officials? To what extent did impersonal procedure and new ideas of professionalism supplant patronage and old scribal role concepts? How well did the state succeed in rewarding good service and protecting its officials against shifting economic conditions? The answers to such questions illuminate major issues of social integration and cultural change and clarify links between economic conditions and changing forms of political activism. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire

A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire
Author: M. Şükrü Hanioğlu
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2010-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691146179

At the turn of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire straddled three continents and encompassed extraordinary ethnic and cultural diversity among the millions of people living within its borders. This text provides a concise history of the late empire between 1789 and 1918, turbulent years marked by incredible social change.

Prisons in the Late Ottoman Empire

Prisons in the Late Ottoman Empire
Author: Kent F. Schull
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2014-04-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0748677690

Contrary to the stereotypical images of torture, narcotics and brutal sexual abuse traditionally associated with Ottoman or 'Turkish' prisons, Kent Schull argues that, during the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1918), they played a crucial role in attempts to transform the empire.

Law and Legality in the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey

Law and Legality in the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey
Author: Kent F. Schull
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2016-01-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0253021006

The editors of this volume have gathered leading scholars on the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey to chronologically examine the sweep and variety of sociolegal projects being carried in the region. These efforts intersect issues of property, gender, legal literacy, the demarcation of village boundaries, the codification of Islamic law, economic liberalism, crime and punishment, and refugee rights across the empire and the Aegean region of the Turkish Republic.

The Ottoman Empire in the Tanzimat Era

The Ottoman Empire in the Tanzimat Era
Author: Yonca Köksal Özyasar
Publisher: SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2019
Genre: HISTORY
ISBN: 9781138335738

This book is a new history of the Ottoman Empire's Tanzimat reforms in the provinces of Edirne and Ankara. It studies variation across the two provinces and the crucial role of local intermediaries such as notables, tribal leaders and merchants who at times undermined the power of the state but in other times worked hand-in-hand with state officials to build roads, improve infrastructure and provide security.

Making a Living in Ottoman Anatolia

Making a Living in Ottoman Anatolia
Author: Ebru Boyar
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2021-08-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9004466983

Centred on the socio-economic life of Anatolia in the Ottoman period, this volume examines aspects of production, local and international trade, consumption and the role of the state, both at a local and a central level.