The bureaucratization and modernization of the naib in the Ottoman Empire: 1839-1864

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the office of naib in the Ottoman Empire during the early Tanzimat era. The aim of the research is to understand the reformation and transformation in the legal domain of the Ottoman Empire during the Tanzimat period. With the spread of tax farming in the Ottoman legal system during the 17th and 18th centuries the naibs became important power holders in the provinces with the total legal and administrative power of the kadıs. With the Tanzimat order, this position became a target of the newly established central government together with the other local power holders. The transformation in the legal domain in this period is analyzed according to the centralization narrative of the Tanzimat era. The thesis argues that the naibs were important local political actors with their legal and administrative capacities, who allied or challenged the other local and central actors and played an essential role in local politics. Lastly, it is claimed that the government created new forms of control over the naibs to increase its control over the judiciary domain. Based on the analysis of the number of dismissed naibs between 1839 and 1864, it is argued that the government used the practice of dismissing naibs with the claims of impropriety, corruption and bribery frequently to establish a power mechanism against the naibs.