Imagining the Turkish nation through 'othering' Armenians

National identities are socially constructed and inherently relational, such that collective imagination depends on a dialectical opposition to another identity. The ontology of otherness becomes the necessary basis of social imagination. National identity can hardly be imagined without a narrative of myths, and the Turkish nation is no exception. This article argues that the Turkish nation was imagined as a modern nation with territorial sovereignty after the erosion of traditional Ottoman umma (religious community) identity. During the process of this imagination, the Armenians became the first ‘others’, whose claims over eastern Anatolia were perceived as a real threat to Turkish territoriality and identity. Based on the analysis of modernist theories of nationalism, the methodological concern of this study is twofold: to explore the causal link between the policies of Ottoman modernisation and the emergence of Turkish nationalism; and to incorporate the self and other nexus into the relationship between the emergence of Turkish nationalism and the process of ‘othering’ the Armenians

Problems of the Rentier State Approach in Comparative Perspective

Der in den 1980er Jahren entwickelte Rentierstaats-Ansatz hat die Diskussion über die sozioökonomische und politische Entwicklung des Vorderen Orients geprägt. Freilich haben sich die Anhänger des Ansatzes bisher zu stark auf die Analyse positiver Fälle konzentriert und sind der Kritik nicht begegnet, dass es rentenbeziehende Systeme gebe, deren Entwicklungsweg nicht den Prognosen des Rentierstaats-Ansatzes entspreche. Der Aufsatz überprüft diesen Vorwurf eingehend, indem er die relevanten Fälle innerhalb wie außerhalb der Region des Vorderen Orients auf die aufgeworfenen kritischen Fragen hin untersucht. So zeigt der Autor, dass sich der Rentierstaats-Ansatz keinem gravierenden Problem abweichender Fälle ausgesetzt sieht. Die Analyse wirft aber auch konkrete Desiderate auf, die in der Forschung des Rentierstaats-Ansatzes stärkere Beachtung finden sollten.The rentier state approach deeply influenced the discussion on the socio-economic and socio-political development of the Middle East. Yet, the adherents of the approach confined their research on positive cases, thereby neglecting critical objections according to which there are rent-receiving systems whose development did not meet the expectations of the rentier state approach. The paper examines this criticism by dealing with cases studies inside and outside the region of the Middle East. In this way, the author shows that the rentier state approach is not exposed to a significant problem of deviant cases. Moreover, the article identifies research desiderates that scholars of the rentier state approach should take up