This study is rooted in the multiple and varied contexts in which the Ottomans were compelled to adopt the Tanzimat, alluding to the series of reforms adopted by the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century and that later gave rise to a constitution. These reforms came about as a result of the collision with expansionist and competitive forms of capitalism, a growing awareness among local elites on the importance of reforms and the tensions borne out of the diversity and complexity of their local composition. This study seeks to describe these reforms in terms of what they strived to achieve—a Western concept of citizenship represented in the formation of a nation-state, which implied the rise of civil society, human rights, and the rights of citizenship—and what was prevalent at the time of the Ottoman Empire—a system that conceptually embodied the idea of a state founded on a dominant, over-arching social group (or social solidarity – asabiyah) in a community composed of multiple clans.