Cultural tensions in the late Ottoman Empire: a romantic nationalism model

Abstract

In the 19th century, Romantic Nationalism provided an alternative to rational visions and universal strategies for mankind. Doing so involved affirming that cultures are products of their heritage and that people are emotionally connected to them. As a result, alternative ways of life should not be forced upon people. By adapting Romantic Nationalism in order to analyse of tensions in the later years of the Ottoman Empire, a widely understood paradigm of cultural stability and change is applied to a crucial era in Middle Eastern history.