This paper shows that there were few reasons for the millet, and later the tanzimat, to fail. The first and most important was the intolerance of Ottoman Muslims towards the other religions in the
Empire. It explains that, while the earlier Arab empires tolerated foreigners and non-believers, Ottomans effectively shut Christians out of the
society. Second, the Ottoman Empire failed to reform together with its European counterparts, forever remaining an inefficient feudal and militaristic regime with the Sultan holding an absolute power. The writer concludes that religious and ethnic tolerance in a society of that kind are simply impossible to achieve.