The Nature of the Modern State

In Turkey, the Ottoman Empire is still largely viewed as an ahistorical, unchanging entity. Change is generally considered a negativity by both Ottoman and contemporary historians. When the Ottoman "classical" period is taken as a basis, the following is approached as a deterioration, decay or identity erosion, imitation. Historians still largely approach their subjects in a mental environment caught between praising the "glory" of the classical period and lamenting the "abuses" of the recent period; Worse still, they cannot help establishing emotional identification with their subjects.

Rifa'at Ali Abou-El-Haj argues against this approach in the book. He criticizes these and similar problems in the approaches to the Ottoman Empire with a calm and distant attitude. It deals with the Ottoman society and state within the framework of modern modernization, comparing it with the European states and societies of the period, 16th-18th. It focuses on the nature of the change that has occurred over the centuries. While doing this, he also confronts the "orientalist" approaches common among Western historians.



Number of Pages: 264


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Imge Bookstore