The Formality of Decentralisation in The Ottoman Empire

Abstract

While scientists acknowledge the existence of autonomous entities within the Ottoman Realm, no concerted effort seems to be in place to summarise and categorise them properly regarding the method of their establishment and maintenance throughout their histories. This article is an attempt to close this gap by providing a detailed landscape of decentralised arrangements throughout its vast realm. To this end, we will distinguish three major types of decentralisation concerning their formality: formal and informal or legal and non-legal, as well as the third, “quasi-formal”. Throughout the study, we found out that while most of the decentralised arrangements could be categorised as formal, the informal and quasi-formal autonomy was also thriving within the empire and some of these instances have managed to survive centuries without formalisation or abolishment by the Ottomans.