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- Title
Nation‐building policies in the Balkans: an Ottoman or a manufactured legacy?
- Authors
Mylonas, Harris
- Abstract
Are post‐Ottoman nation‐building policies in the Balkans a legacy of the millet system? Some contend that the discriminatory nation‐building policies along religious lines employed by Balkan nations ruling elites are a legacy of the Ottoman era millet system (administration by religious affiliation); others argue that the Ottoman legacy is palpable in the millet‐like features preserved in the minority rights protection system resulting from World War I, and yet other scholars see the millet system as a critical antecedent. Studying closely the policies towards non‐core groups in the post‐Ottoman Balkans, one finds that the 'Ottoman legacy' is much more differentiated than is commonly assumed and that effects vary widely from place to place. Moreover, I argue that the persistence of certain features from one period to another may be an actual legacy in some cases, but there is also a possibility that we are dealing with a manufactured legacy, where elites choose to intervene and perpetuate an institution or a particular feature of it. I empirically demonstrate this distinction in a crucial case using archival sources.
- Subjects
RELIGIOUS identity; NATION building; LEGAL status of minorities; OTTOMAN Empire; SCHOLARS
- Publication
Nations & Nationalism, 2019, Vol 25, Issue 3, p866
- ISSN
1354-5078
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/nana.12499