Nineteenth Century Local Governance in Ottoman Bulgaria: Politics in Provincial Councils

Description

A comprehensive history of the provincial administrative and judiciary structure in Ottoman-governed BulgariaDraws on provincial documents from Bulgarian archives to reveal a well-connected provincial political and economic environment in which the local elite played important roles alongside state officials.Provides a comprehensive discussion of the provincial bureaucratic and judiciary structure in Ottoman Balkans in the 19th century.Explains the investment of the local elite in the 19th century transformation of the Ottoman Empire.Provides an account of the main political structures in a key Bulgarian province at the eve of Bulgarian independence and in the midst of significant demographic movements involving the Turks, Bulgarians and the Adyghe people (Circassians).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.