The zones of fragility: outlaws and the forms of violence in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between violence and power through examining the archival documents about the outlaws in the Ottoman Empire from 1852 to 1876. I argue that the outlaws and the use of violence in the public sphere defied the power of the Ottoman Empire. Thereof, the present study agrees with the main thesis of Hannah Arendt about the destructive influence of violence on power. However, I take Hannah Arendt's argument on violence one step further by claiming that the form of violence -whether political or non-political- loses its significance when both public safety and state sovereignty are under great threats at the same time in the zones of fragility.