A new approach to the Ottoman Empire's external debts: Social network analysis

In the framework of this study, external debt relations carried by the Ottoman Empire from 1854 to 1914 were examined. For this purpose, a total of 43 external borrowing performed in the period from 1854 to 1914 were analyzed. Ottoman Empire's external debt relations, were mapped and measured by using two separate methods of social network analysis. The data required for these analyses were obtained by scanning the Ottoman archival documents, located in the State Archives in İstanbul. The first of these methods is the global network analysis, which is used to investigate political and economic dimensions of foreign borrowing process in terms of the importance of cause-effect relationships such as wars, treaties, etc. The reasons that lead to external borrowing has been demonstrated and how these factors shaped the Ottoman economic system was determined. Essentially, the case of the Ottoman Empire in general and the economic situation in the Ottoman Empire were taken into consideration during the discussion of with which financial institutions connected in external borrowing relationships, the amount of external debt, the origin of these actors, and economic activities in the Ottoman Empire. The second method is the ego network analysis, external borrowing process is handled only economically and examined in two separate periods. The first of these periods is the period covering the years 1854-1877. External borrowings of the Ottoman Empire carried out during this period were based on debt-debt relationship (debt to finance debt). During this period, network relations formed by the actors, who played role in external borrowing period, led to the stopping of debt repayments (Moratorium) in 1875 and the establishment of the Public Debt Administration (Düyun-u Umumiyye İdaresi) in 1881. The second period of external borrowing process spans the years 1885-1914. External borrowing made in this period was performed for the debt-debt relationships, as well as focusing investment in infrastructure. External debts occurred after the establishment of the Public Debt Administration, were taken on more reasonable terms compared to the 1854-1877 period, led to economic collapse.