Examination of the Tanzimat Edict in the framework of modern world system theory

The Modern World System (MDS), which emerged as an economic system in Europe in the 16th century, transitioned to mass production in the 19th century with the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and the development of Western technology. Mass production created excess production, thus necessitating the need for a foreign market. Industrializing central countries began to search for new markets to find foreign markets, and thus MDS became a world system. MDS is conceptualized as core country, periphery country and semi-peripheral country. The world system, positioned as center, periphery and semi-peripheral countries, has become a system that examines the relations between these countries as a whole in terms of their economic, political, legal, administrative and social aspects. For this reason, the study aims to examine the Tanzimat Edict, which is the most important fundamental constitutional text that ensures Turkey's transformation in the legal, political and administrative fields, by making a new reading within the framework of MDS theory. For this purpose, MDS was defined in the first part of the study, which was examined by reading primary and secondary sources. In the second part, the Balta Port Trade Agreement and the Balta Port Trade Agreement were evaluated by examining the current economic and financial structure of the Ottoman Empire and its political relations within itself and with other states in the period leading to the Tanzimat. In the third chapter, the Tanzimat Edict is discussed within the framework of MDS. With the readings made, it was concluded that the Tanzimat Edict could be read within the framework of MDS.