How did the late Ottoman Empire grapple with the challenge of modernity and survive? Rejecting explanations based on the concept of an "Islamic empire", or the tired paradigm of the "Eastern Question", the author argues that far richer insights can be gained by focusing on imperial ideology and drawing out the striking similarities between the Ottoman and other late legitimist empires like Russia, Austria and Japan. The author traces the Ottoman state's pursuit of legitimation in public ceremonial; in the iconography of buildings, music, the honours system or the language of the chancery; in its proto-nationalist reformulation of Islamic legal practices; in its efforts to inculcate, through an expanded education system; and in the efforts of the Ottoman elite to present a "civilized" image abroad.
- ISBN10 1860643078
- ISBN13 9781860643071
- Publish Date 31 December 1998
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 24 June 2008
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint I.B. Tauris
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 256
- Language English