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Siyaset or Politika?
The Emergence of Modern Vocabulary of Rule in the Ottoman Empire
in Contributions to the History of Concepts
Author:
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Alp Eren Topal
Alp Eren Topal
Independent Scholar, alperentopal@gmail.com
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Einar Wigen
Einar Wigen
Professor, University of Oslo, Norway einar.wigen@ikos.uio.no
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Abstract
In this article, we trace the diversification of Ottoman political vocabulary from the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth in a time of dynastic restoration and administrative modernization. We focus particularly on the transformation of the concept siyâset (rule, politics) which had been in use in Muslim polities for centuries, and the emergence, in the late eighteenth century, of the word politika which has come to be used alongside siyâset since then. In making sense of this bifurcation, we demonstrate that the Ottoman elite conceptions of politics were not simply replaced by the European conceptions. Rather, the equivalence of siyâset and politika was clearly contested by Ottoman statesmen, and the political terminology of rule and administration evolved in tandem with the material transformation of the Ottoman dynasty and state.
Contributor Notes
Alp Eren Topal is an independent scholar. E-mail: alperentopal@gmail.com
Einar Wigen is Professor of Middle East Studies at University of Oslo, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages. E-mail: einar.wigen@ikos.uio.no