Neo-Ottomanists and Neoconservatives: A Strange Alignment in the 1990s

Abstract:

In a curious and hitherto largely overlooked episode, the revisionist 'neo-Ottomanist' ambitions of King Hussein of Jordan and Turgut Özal of Turkey converged during the 1990s with the interests of an influential group of 'neoconservatives' centered in Washington to press for a radical redrawing of the Near Eastern political and territorial map.

Due to a combination of material and normative limitations, neither Hussein’s nor Özal’s ambitions materialised, but the common central elements of their visions –a rejection of the nation-state system imposed on the region after the Ottoman Empire’s collapse; the evocation instead of past imperial greatness, updated to reflect contemporary democratic norms; and a style of rule characterized by a cosmopolitan and accommodating realpolitik– constitute an alternative to rival (authoritarian secular-nationalist, liberal, militant Islamist) prescriptions for the region’s future at a time when the erosion of the post-Ottoman status quo continues to accelerate.