State, Faith, and Nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands.

• Author: Resanovic, Dunja
• Position: Book review

State, Faith, and Nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands

By Frederick Anscombe

USA: Cambridge University Press, 2014, 339 pages, s34.99, ISBN: 9781107615236.

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In State, Faith, and Nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands, Frederick F. Anscombe frames his narrative around the themes of "state, faith, and nation," concerning which the dominant scholarly narratives about the history of Ottoman and Post-Ottoman lands are wavering. The author aims at challenging the (pre)assumptions of the existing scholarship, and shedding new light on the aforementioned subject. His reevaluation emphasizes the transition from the Ottoman to post-Ottoman lands, drawing attention to the importance of understanding how religion and nation were developed and used by the post-Ottoman states as social and political concepts. It is clear that Anscombe is interested in religion as a social concept, particularly the way it has been reciprocally framed and used as an ideological and identity tool, as well as a legitimizer in the state-population interrelation. This emphasis on religion as an ideological tool gives rise to uncertainty regarding the reasons why the author chose the term "faith" for his title and definition of his main themes, given that faith seems to connote a more spiritual frame of mind on the part of religious believers.

The first part of the book, "The Ottoman Empire," provides an extensive overview of the Empire's political transitions, starting from the mid-eighteenth century until its dissolution, looking at it through the prism of complex interrelations of identity and the ideological nature of the state, relations between the state and its population, and external developments and international affairs. Using a vast literature of secondary sources dealing with the period, Anscombe reassesses what has been written in order to set the ground for his main argument and new narrative perspective. His reevaluation is extremely valuable for registering the importance of the relationship between the state and its population. Looking back at primary sources, Anscombe offers a better understanding of popular allegiances and state legitimacy. Thus, Anscombe develops two main arguments: first, that Islam had played the role of comprising the ideological backbone of the state, granting identity to the Empire and ensuring its legitimacy; and second that the population consequently identified within its religious identities on the...