While the Ottoman empire had long maintained flexible administrative arrangements, European intervention in Ottoman affairs starting in the 1830s resulted in the creation of a new type of province. Drawing on her research for her book, Empire by Law: The Ottoman Origins of the Mandate System in the Middle East (Columbia University Press, forthcoming), Aimee Gennell will focus on the period between 1880 and 1908 to examine Ottoman institution building around international law as a "weapon of the weak" in the empire’s struggles with Europe.
