State, Faith, And Nation In Ottoman And Post-ottoman Lands
by Frederick F. Anscombe /
2014 / English / PDF
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Current standard narratives of Ottoman, Balkan, and Middle East
history overemphasize the role of nationalism in the transformation
of the region. Challenging these accounts, this book argues that
religious affiliation was in fact the most influential shaper of
communal identity in the Ottoman era, that religion molded the
relationship between state and society, and that it continues to do
so today in lands once occupied by the Ottomans. The book examines
the major transformations of the past 250 years to illustrate this
argument, traversing the nineteenth century, the early decades of
post-Ottoman independence, and the recent past. In this way, the
book affords unusual insights not only into the historical patterns
of political development but also into the forces shaping
contemporary crises, from the dissolution of Yugoslavia to the rise
of political Islam.
Current standard narratives of Ottoman, Balkan, and Middle East
history overemphasize the role of nationalism in the transformation
of the region. Challenging these accounts, this book argues that
religious affiliation was in fact the most influential shaper of
communal identity in the Ottoman era, that religion molded the
relationship between state and society, and that it continues to do
so today in lands once occupied by the Ottomans. The book examines
the major transformations of the past 250 years to illustrate this
argument, traversing the nineteenth century, the early decades of
post-Ottoman independence, and the recent past. In this way, the
book affords unusual insights not only into the historical patterns
of political development but also into the forces shaping
contemporary crises, from the dissolution of Yugoslavia to the rise
of political Islam.