SUMMARY:

In the introduction to the forum on subjecthood and citizenship in the Russian and Ottoman empires the authors propose not only to compare the processes in which the two empires interacted but also to concentrate on the challenges created by modernization for the subjects and rulers of these two states. Despite significant differences in legal culture and administrative practices, not to mention self-representation, the Russian and Ottoman empires elaborated different models of relations between subjects and rulers in an era that witnessed the emergence of national movements, colonization, and mass politics. Wheeras the Ottoman Empire in 1856 had already legally equalized all subjects before the law, and in 1869 promulgated the principle of Ottoman citizenship, the Russian Empire did not acquire universal citizenship or subjecthood until 1917. Yet, these differences notwithstanding, in both the Ottoman and Russian empires ideas and practices of citizenship and subjecthood and attempts to rationalize them faced the fundamental problem of diversity. The gradual movement toward universal citizenship/subjecthood was accompanied by the preservation and development of particularism in regard to the relationship between different groups and the state. The authors conclude that there was never a single narrative of citizenship or subjecthood and that citizenship was often a claim to the position within the polity on the side of the ruled and an idea of patronage and pedagogy of the people on the side of bureaucrats and intellectuals.