ABSTRACT
This chapter contributes to the emerging literature on quantitative network analysis on the Ottoman case. It supplements the narrative accounts in previous chapters by blockmodeling networks (using UCINET software) in Edirne and Ankara to illustrate their respective densely and loosely connected structures. It also adds a new dimension by visualizing local networks, defining the most central social actors (that is the actors with most connections) in them, and changes in centrality over time. The focus of this chapter will be on brokerage and the structural autonomy of local elites in mediating relations between the state and their communities. During the forty years of the Tanzimat, there was change in local structures and positioning of local intermediaries in social networks. Accounting for this change can display the effects of state policies. Using Pajek software, time matrixes were created for every ten years from 1839 to 1878, and change in network density and brokerage of local intermediaries were shown by analyzing different density measures. This is an optional chapter for readers interested in quantitative network analysis.
