The neo-Mamluk utopia: understanding the nature of sociopolitical conflicts within the ruling elite of Ottoman Egypt in the second half of the 18th century

Abstract

The article examines the specific administrative model that developed in Ottoman Egypt in the second half of the 18th century, and the role of the local elite in the formation of the system of power. This study focuses on the influence of the Mamluk Sultanate on the ideas of regional leaders of predominantly Mamluk origin concerning the ideal structure of the state. These leaders regarded the Mamluk Sultanate as a model of the ‘golden age’ of Egyptian statehood. This study explores the repercussions of the deviation from the conventional tenets of the Mamluk corporation, which is characterized by an escalation in the competitive dynamics among the military-administrative elite of Egyptian society. The principal conclusion of the study is that the organizational structure of Mamluk society, which took shape in Ottoman Egypt in the latter half of the 18th century and was based on meritocratic principles of elite recruitment, due to its inherent contradictions, initially laid the foundation for stable stereotypes of behavior among the ruling authorities. These contradictions gave rise to conflicts among them. Despite the crisis of the Ottoman system of provincial administration, the leaders of the ruling ‘houses’ (‘beyts’) of the neo-Mamluk type were unable to propose a new political model of development and finally break away from dependency on the Ottoman metropolis, thus failing to put their ideas about the ideal state into practice.

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