Legal and Military Reforms: Secularism and Strategic Thought from the Empire to Republican Turkey

This book bridges historical analysis and strategic studies to explore the complex interplay between legal reform, secularization, and military strategy in both the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. Beyond institutional transformation, it critically examines the enduring relationship between the Ottomans/Turks and Europe/the West.
Rejecting binary frameworks, the book challenges conventional narratives that position the Ottoman Empire and Turkey outside of European history and identity. It argues instead that the Ottomans were inherently and continuously European.
This work is intended for academics, policymakers, and general readers interested in Middle Eastern and Turkish history, civil-military relations, military strategy, legal and political reform, geopolitics, international relations, and the philosophy of history and modernity.

Ali L. Karaosmanoğlu is Professor Emeritus in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University and Director of the Foreign Policy and Peace Research Center. He has been a Fellow at the Hague Academy of International Law, a Fulbright Fellow, and a NATO Fellow, and has served as a Visiting Scholar at both Stanford and Princeton Universities.
He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and has served as a Board Member of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute. His publications cover foreign policy, security and strategic studies, peacekeeping operations, and civil-military relations.