Governance of Abbasid Caliphate Based on the Max Weber Theory of traditional Sovereignty

Political, administrative, judicial and military structure of five hundred years of Abbasid Caliphate can be examined in various aspects. When Abbasids had gained power, the Abbasid Patrimonial governance was formed. By stabilization of political power and development of administrative and military structure of Caliphate, the government had gained the characteristics of Patrimonial –Bureaucratic system. After a century, the independency of procurators, falls of Caliph’ sovereignty, the weakness of administrative system and predominance of soldiery is recognizable. Caliph devolved all the authorities of governance to the military commanders by making the position of Commander in Chief (Amir Al-Umara). The consequence of military domination had gained the characteristics of Sultanism. Characteristics of Patrimonial system are autocracy of governor, Monopolism, economic problems, rise of soldiery power, etc., which are serious obstacles for evolution, development and its headway to the rationality. All these obstacles are recognizable in political structure, administrative and economic system of Abbasids government. This article tries to evaluate and resolve the political-administrative and military structure of Abbasids according to the Max Weber’s theory of traditional sovereignty and explain the amount of its coordination of incongruity with this type of governance based on historical records, analyzing data in a logical and comparative approach.