Studying the Rise and Fall of Powers: Insights From Neo-Khaldunian Thought

Abstract

This paper sheds the lights on the ideas of Ibn Khaldūn in conjunction with the thoughts of Malik ibn Nabi on the rise and fall of powers and posits that the psycho-sociological analysis of Ibn Khaldūn can be applied to the rise and fall of the contemporary political powers. the paper argues that this validity stems from the comprehensiveness of the Ibn Khaldūn analysis which explains how the political power generates from the stage of the idea, flowing to the stage of states, reaching ultimately to the civilization which is the most progress status sought by any power. by combing the ideas of these two scholars, this paper proposes what can be called the “Neo-Khaldūnian” approach to study the rise and fall of the powers in the modern world.