BOOK: M. Safa SARACOGLU, Nineteenth Century Local Governance in Ottoman Bulgaria : Politics in Provincial Councils (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019). ISBN 9781474431002, $29.95

(Source: OUP)

Oxford University Press recently published a book on local governance in Ottoman Bulgaria.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book provides a detailed exploration of the way in which administrative and judicial offices and practices provided an essential space for politics in 19th-century Bulgaria, securing local inhabitants' participation with Ottoman imperial governance. Combining a wealth of primary documents in both Bulgarian and Ottoman Turkish, this is the first systematic and comprehensive study of the connection between imperially-designed institutions and local politics.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. Safa Saracoglu is a Professor of History at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He is co-editor (with Kent F. Schull) of Law and Legality in the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey (2016).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Preface

1 - INTRODUCTION
The Argument
Vidin
Structure of The Book

2 - CONTEXTUALIZING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The Tanzimat Era: Marking a Crisis and a Transition
Means of Production and Ottoman Social Formation
From Tax Farmers to Tax Collectors
The Liberal-Capitalist Ottoman Social Formation
Governance, Official Print and Information Flow
Conclusion

3 - SITTING TOGETHER: LOCAL COUNCILS AND THE POLITICS OF ELECTION IN THE COUNTY OF VIDIN
The Many Parts of the Imperial Dominions: The County as an Administrative Unit
The 1871 Regulation: The County as a Reflection of the Province
Councils: Inevitable Dynamism?
Councils: Conveying or Constituting Reality?
Of Permanency and Change: the Politics of Election
Conclusion

4 - ONCE INSIDE THE CHAMBER... : PARTICIPATION IN THE POLITICS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
Seals: Images of Participation?
The Rationale for the Seals
The Frequency and Synchronicity
Right side up?
Yearbooks: Reflections of the Judicio-Administrative Sphere.
Conclusion: A Better Vision of the System?

5 - WRITING POLITICS: OTTOMAN GOVERNMENTALITY AND THE LANGUAGE OF REPORTS
'Several Times He had been Given Well-Intended Reminders': A case of Local Antagonism
Land and Power in Berkofça
Ottoman Governmentality
Utilizing Ottoman Governance
Staying Out: Challenging Ottoman Governmentality
Conclusion

6 - 'CATTLE THIEVES': REFUGEE SETTLEMENT, OTTOMAN GOVERNMENTALITY AND BIOPOLITICS
The Numbers
Cattle as Liquidity
'Security, Territory, Population' in Vidin
From Refugees to Cattle Thieves
Conclusion

7 - CONCLUSION
Survival of Lower-Tier Elites
Crisis and Means of Production
Connected Offices
Contentious Dynamics
Conniving Narratives
Politics of Liberalism

Select Bibliography
Archives
Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries
Official publications
Secondary Sources

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