Tarih boyunca tüm devletler, kendi tarihsel gerçeklerine uygun olarak belirli siyasal kurum ve mekanizmalar oluşturmuşlardır. Bu anlamda, hiçbir devletin yönetim modeli bir diğerine tam olarak benzemez. Diğer taraftan, belirli bir devletin tarih sahnesinde kalıcı olabilmesi, sahip olduğu kurumsallaşma kapasitesi ile yakından ilişkilidir. Yaklaşık 600 yüzyıl hüküm süren Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun, varlığının ve gücünün uzun dönemler sürmesinde kurumsallaşmış bir yapıya sahip olmasının önemli bir etkisi vardır. Osmanlı’da yönetim anlayışı, temelde İslam dininin inanç esasları üzerine oturur. Bunun yanında, İslamiyet öncesi Türk toplumlarının yönetim anlayışları da Osmanlı’yı önemli ölçüde etkilemiştir. Türk devlet anlayışında siyasal iktidarın sahibi ve kullanıcısı kağanın hükmetme yetkisini doğrudan Tanrı’dan aldığı kabul edilir. Bunun yanında Türk devlet geleneğinde hükümdar geçmişten gelen kurallar anlamında “töre” ile sınırlıdır. İslam dininin kapsamlı bir devlet teorisine sahip olup olmaması ise oldukça tartışmalıdır. Kur’an’da devlet yönetimine ilişkin yalnızca genel esaslar bulunduğu için bu konudaki genel yaklaşım din adamlarının ve felsefecilerin yaklaşımlarından çıkarsanmıştır. Osmanlı yönetim anlayışı, İslam’ın siyaset ve devlet yönetimine ilişkin genel yaklaşımı ile eski Türk devletlerinde hâkim olan yönetim ilkelerinin bileşkesi durumundadır. Bu bağlamda, Osmanlı’nın uzun yıllar boyunca kalıcı olabilmesini güçlü bir devlet yönetimi anlayışı oluşturmasına borçlu olduğu söylenebilir. Söz konusu yönetim anlayışında, İslam’ın kuralları kadar, eski Türk hukukundan kaynaklanan, padişahın yasal düzenleme yapabilme yetkisine sahip olmasının büyük etkisi vardır. Bu bağlamda, Osmanlı, kendisinden önceki tüm Müslüman Türk devletlerini aşan, özgün bir yönetim modeli oluşturmayı başarmıştır.

Ottoman Empire, which reigned approximately for 600 centuries and became one of the most important political actors in the world during an important part of that time period, have had a strong administration mechanism, at the same time it also managed to place its legitimacy on a solid foundation. In this regard, it is seen that Ottoman Empire has increased its legal, political and administrative capacity simultaneously with the expansion of its boundaries. Under the display of state's permanent view, there was a major impact of the steps taken in the bureaucratic and legal fields besides its military success. One of the most important elements that make it possible for such a case is the Ottoman Empire's capability to commingle both Islam and traditions of the ancient Turkish government and thus, it was able to produce its own administration model. This article focuses on the basic understanding of the dynamics of Ottoman politics and administration. For this purpose, primarily existing understanding of administration philosophy and principles in the ancient Turks, then the general approach of Islam on these issues are discussed. Despite moving to the established culture a relatively late date in history, pre-Islamic Turks had a strong state tradition. It is clear that state tradition in question had an important impact on establishment and prolonged existence on of large states as Seljuq and Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, the most significant situation revealed by the moving to the established culture is the effect of everyday politics rather than abstract discussions about politics. With the mass adoption of Islam, Turks’ transition to established culture had accelerated. In this regard, it can be said that Islam has become one of the important factor in terms of determining the administrative principles of the Turkish state in a short time. However, in this process, administrative tradition from the past has not been completely abandoned as well. On the contrary, each element was united to certain extent and has shaped the basic principles of political power. It can be said that Islam’s institutionalization effort towards state began in the era of Prophet Mohammed. Especially Muslims who settled in Medina after the Hijra, entered into the effort of creating a unique mechanism under the leadership of Prophet Mohammed. After declaring his prophethood, Prophet Mohammed’s undertaking of some kind of presidential duties in the state which Muslims’ number has been increasing in a short time and constituted specific order starting from Medina, prevented the power debate that would be encountered at the beginning. Therefore, unlike Christianity, discussion of political power in Islam remained relatively low levels. At the same time, when there was a problem regarding the administrative process, Quran and Prophet Mohammed’s behavior and words were consulted. First discussion of political leadership and problem of selection of governor emerged after the death of Prophet Mohammed whose authority had been obeyed unconditionally. While there have been comprehensive regulations regarding many areas of life in Qur’an and Sunnah, including general principles relating to social order and institutions has become a complicated issue in determining the new executive. More specific issues such as shaping the administrative mechanisms and determination of the executive power in this context were left to the intellectuals’ jurisprudence and the studies on this subject. Correspondingly, caliphate debate that emerged after the death of Prophet Mohammed has begun and through these debates, concrete qualifications that the executive must have have tried to be put forward. Thus, the basic parameters that determine the relationship between the governor and the governed has emerged on an understanding of the executive power is limited. Characteristics of the executive were discussed within the framework of ‘justice, competence, safety, alleg