ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the Ottomans approached state formation and how their approach could adapt and inform current statebuilding models. Ottoman policies from the beginning were a hybrid between the Byzantine laws, which used to dominate the area, and the nomadic traditions of the Oghuz Turks. Before attempting to demonstrate how hybridity could inform the practices of statebuilding, it appears important to discussion the specific contribution of hybridity discussions to cultural studies. Kraidy asserts that critical transculturalism is an alternative perspective from the traditional frameworks articulated around cultural imperialism and cultural pluralism. The partial cultural fusion and effective stabilising policy pursued by the Ottomans also rested upon the authority of the central state. An aspect of the Ottomans' strategy was to balance religious interests with secular principles in order to create stability within the central state. At the core of the Ottomans' imperial system was a mechanism called 'millets'.
