Every state has a limited lifespan: an analysis on Ibn Khaldun

Abstract

Ibn Khaldun is a Muslim thinker who lived in North Africa in the Middle Ages. The places where he lived were in a geography where tribal management systems were dominant and political turmoil and wars were never lacking. It is possible to see the traces of the geography and era in which Ibn Khaldun lived in the shaping of his political views. At that time, due to the fact that the tribes were constantly at war with each other, the administrations changed hands frequently, some states were destroyed and some new ones were established in their place. These observations led Ibn Khaldun to liken the life of states to human life. According to him, every state is born, develops and dies just like people. The destruction of states is an inevitable end. Ibn Khaldun has been criticized by some thinkers because of these views. In fact, his book Mukaddime was banned in the Ottoman Empire for a while on the grounds that it led the people to pessimism. This study was created by examining the original works of Ibn Khaldun with the exploratory method and interpreting his views.