Foucault's Representation of the Nature and Dimensions of the Seljuk State: Security, Religion and Caliphate

Abstract

In this research, according to Michel Foucault's methodology to understand the nature and dimensions of the state, we analyze the Seljuk state. In this method, instead of starting with the theories of the state and also putting the state in the center, we have started our work by considering the state as the microphysics of power and then we have placed the state in a technology and field of power. This technology of power was formed from the strategies and tactics specific to its time (not from reductionist theories). The main question of the article is, based on Foucault's view of the state, what power relations and technology were actualized in the Seljuk state? According to the historical and concrete needs of this period, the Seljuk Sultan had to provide the conditions to maintain justice and peace in all Islamic lands and on the other hand, considering that the institution of religion was the link between the sultan, the caliph, the bureaucrats and the people, it should be preserved; Therefore, the Seljuk state became the arena for actualizing the power technology of "security, religion and caliphate". This technology consists of various elements and strategies, such as knowledge/power relations, religion/power relations, Sultan/Caliph relations, and bureaucratic institutions, which this article deals with in its various dimensions.

Keywords

• state
• seljuqs
• security
• caliphate
• power