Classical English School Theory and the Ottoman/Turk: Reimagining an Exclusionary Eurocentric Narrative

Abstract

This article maintains that the treatment of the Ottoman/Turk in the English School of International Relations, as in broader Western scholarship, is Eurocentric and highlights less frequently utilized concepts to restructure our thinking on the Ottomans. In Eurocentric historical narratives, the Ottomans are represented as an abnormal entity or as the very opposite of Europeanness. This peculiar representation anachronistically impacts upon European Union–Turkey relations today as the Europeans conflate the dissolved Ottoman Empire with contemporary Turkey. In an attempt to move forward, I turn to Martin Wight’s concepts to recast the Ottomans as a potential European superpower rather than as an abnormality in European life and then to Herbert Butterfield’s “academic history” as one way of dissociating the Ottoman past and the Turkish present. Both moves can help reimagine the Ottoman/Turk on more positive and balanced terms.