The Market’s Underbelly: Monopoly, Smuggling, and the State in the Late Ottoman Empire, 1880-1914

• Applicant: Dr. Toygun Altintas
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 555825572

For my project, "The Market's Underbelly" I will study the entangled spread of monopoly capitalism and organized smuggling in the second half of the nineteenth century with a focus on tobacco smuggling in the Ottoman Empire. Despite its illicit character and concerted efforts to contain it, smuggling became a structural component of monopoly capitalism during the long nineteenth century. A focused study will shed light on the layered responses to the spread of extensive monopolies and the proliferation of a shadow economy of contraband and smuggling under the violent supervision of a network of paramilitary forces. The Ottoman setting is particularly promising for the exploration of the connections between smuggling and monopoly capitalism as well as the role of illicit networks and exchanges in the making of modern markets. This is partly because of the tense relationship between the foreign consortium that controlled the tobacco monopoly and the Ottoman government over the policing of smuggling and monitoring of contraband cultivation. Conflicts and contests over the boundaries of the legal market and smuggling are well-documented from both sides. Therefore, conflicts and contests over the boundaries of the market were often deliberately and extensively recorded in the case of tobacco smuggling in the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, the creation of a private police force outside the security apparatus of the Empire intensified the tensions and contradictions between contraband cultivation, smuggling, and policing. Finally, a focused study on smuggling in the late Ottoman empire will shed light on the role of impunity in the governance of the market as many government agents participated in the operation of the black market with the full knowledge of their superiors despite the government’s avowed opposition to smuggling. Hence, the project has the potential to contribute to recently invigorated debates over the role of the state in the organization and governance of financial and commodity markets.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants