Focusing on the Ottoman Empire, Mardin developed many hypotheses about the societal structure of Ottomans. For instance, he argued that in the Ottoman Empire, there was no 'civil society' in the Hegelian terms that could operate independently of central government and was based on property rights. Therefore, the lack of civil society led to a difference in the social evolution and political culture in Ottoman society in contrast to Western societies. Mardin applied the terms center and periphery to the Ottoman society, and concluded that the society consisted of city dwellers, including the Sultan, his officials and nomads. In his view the center included city dwellers, and the periphery nomads. The integration of center and periphery was not achieved. These two societal characteristics, namely the existence of center and periphery, and the lack of successful integration of them, also existed in the modern Turkish society which remained to be the major duality in Turkey. Mardin also emphasized the importance of Jon Turks' thought, addressing the attention of the English-speaking world. Mardin also analyzed the thought of Said Nursi, who was part of this movement in the early years of his life.