From the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) to the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali): The Shift of Power Centers and Its Role in the Decline of the Ottoman State
Associate Professor, Department of History and Civilization of Islamic Nations, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22111/jhr.2026.56502.3967
Abstract
The shift of the locus of power from the Imperial Council (Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn) to the Sublime Porte (Bâb-ı Âlî), initiated in the late tenth/sixteenth century, constitutes one of the most fundamental structural transformations in Ottoman institutional history, altering the balance of power between the sultanate and the grand vizierate. Accordingly, this study examines the contexts, mechanisms, and institutional ramifications of this displacement in relation to power equilibrium and the decline of the Ottoman state as its central inquiry. Employing a historical-analytical methodology with an institutional analysis approach, it investigates the evolving loci of authority up to the dissolution of the Ottoman state in the early fourteenth/twentieth century. The findings reveal that this transition was an incremental process driven by the dysfunctions of the Imperial Council, which culminated in the nineteenth-century Tanzimat reforms that established the Sublime Porte as the administrative and policymaking epicenter. However, bureaucratic centralization lacking institutionalized mechanisms to regulate relations among the sultanate, the grand vizierate, and the Chamber of Deputies (Meclis-i Meb‘ûsân) engendered structural dualism. This tension, aggravated by the autocracy of the Yıldız Palace, fragmented governance during the Second Constitutional Era, and eventual dual sovereignty between Istanbul and Ankara, disrupted institutional balance and accelerated the erosion of Ottoman governance until its ultimate fall.
Ebadi, M. (2026). From the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) to the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali): The Shift of Power Centers and Its Role in the Decline of the Ottoman State. Journal of Historical Researches of Iran and Islam, (), -. doi: 10.22111/jhr.2026.56502.3967
MLA
Ebadi, M. . "From the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) to the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali): The Shift of Power Centers and Its Role in the Decline of the Ottoman State", Journal of Historical Researches of Iran and Islam, , , 2026, -. doi: 10.22111/jhr.2026.56502.3967
HARVARD
Ebadi, M. (2026). 'From the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) to the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali): The Shift of Power Centers and Its Role in the Decline of the Ottoman State', Journal of Historical Researches of Iran and Islam, (), pp. -. doi: 10.22111/jhr.2026.56502.3967
CHICAGO
M. Ebadi, "From the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) to the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali): The Shift of Power Centers and Its Role in the Decline of the Ottoman State," Journal of Historical Researches of Iran and Islam, (2026): -, doi: 10.22111/jhr.2026.56502.3967
VANCOUVER
Ebadi, M. From the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) to the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali): The Shift of Power Centers and Its Role in the Decline of the Ottoman State. Journal of Historical Researches of Iran and Islam, 2026; (): -. doi: 10.22111/jhr.2026.56502.3967
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