Overview

This book features essays that explore corruption and its manifestations in the Ottoman Empire through social, political, economic, legal and discursive approaches. Its main goal is to contextualise the notion and investigate its meanings, conceptual parallels and associated behaviour via a nuanced historical framework. Combining theoretical analysis with detailed case studies, the volume also examines various corruption-related crimes and how they were regulated in the Ottoman polity across the early modern and modern periods. Bringing together established and emerging Ottoman scholars, the collection advances the field by considering contrasting perspectives on the topic. The book's scope extends beyond the Ottoman Empire to include comparative perspectives from other historical settings, such as Mamluk Egypt and Qing China, offering readers a broader understanding of how different polities defined and confronted corruption.

Full Product Details

9781399552967

Table of Contents

Reviews

Corruption in the Ottoman Polity is a competent volume historicising and contextualising the concept of corruption in the early modern and modern Ottoman Empire. The articles are well structured and follow a pattern that help the reader appreciate the intricacies of dealing with a modern notion in a historical context. While a number of essays provide theoretical approaches to studying corruption as a historical phenomenon, others present case studies from the Ottoman Empire as well as from the similar polities such as the Mamluk Empire and Qing China. This is indeed a welcome contribution to the field of Ottoman studies and hopefully will inspire new historians to study corruption in the Ottoman context.--Murat Yasar, SUNY Oswego State University of New York

Author Information

Boğaç Ergene is Professor of History at the University of Vermont. He is the author of Defining Corruption in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2024) and Local Court, Provincial Society, and Justice in the Ottoman Empire (Brill, 2003), and co-author of Halal Food: A History (Oxford University Press, 2018; with Febe Armanios) and The Economics of Ottoman Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2016; with Metin Coşgel). Ergene also edited and co-edited two other volumes and published numerous articles in scholarly journals. Cengiz Kırlı is Professor of History at Boğaziçi University. He is the author of Yolsuzluğun İcadı: 1840 Ceza Kanunu, İktidar ve Bürokrasi (2014), and Sultan ve Kamuoyu: Osmanlı Modernleşme Sürecinde “Havadis Jurnalleri (1840-1844)” (2009). He also published articles on 19th century Ottoman history in scholarly journals.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available