Abstract
Although radical institutional reforms that redistribute wealth usually involve violence, peaceful transformations are not unknown. This paper explores the conditions under which fundamental rights expand without major resistance. The empirical context is the start of the Ottoman modernization drive, which is typically attributed to visionary officials and pressures they faced from foreign powers. Fundamental roles were played, we show, by prior shifts in wealth toward indigenous Christians and away from conservative groups, including Muslim clerics. These shifts, all under way in the 1700s, motivated Ottoman political leaders to begin, with the Gulhane Edict of 1839, to dismantle traditional institutions grounded in Islamic law and imperial customs of governance. Despite its far-reaching provisions, the edict generated only minor pushback, because it addressed widespread and chronic grievances, legitimated ongoing trends, and offered Muslim political elites, who had been losing ground, opportunities to catch up with rapidly prospering local Christians. The data, which come from Istanbul’s Islamic courts, point to changes in the sectarian wealth distribution, as measured by the founding of waqfs (Islamic trusts) and ownership of equities known as gediks. Evolving differences in sectarian economic opportunities and outcomes allow the tracking of changes in political preferences in a context where records of parliamentary votes and shareholder instructions are nonexistent.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call