Ibn Khaldun and the Canon of Political Thinkers
This paper argues that Ibn Khaldun deserves a place in the canon of political thinkers not as a precursor to Machiavelli or modern social science, but as an original, systematic political thinker in his own right. Reading The Muqaddimah against interpretations that emphasise the fiscal and civilising functions of the state, it locates Khaldun’s most enduring political contribution in asabiyyah, or ‘group feeling’. This concept explains how a group acquires the cohesion necessary to establish and sustain governmental authority. The paper interprets asabiyyah as an alternative basis of governmental legitimacy to that offered by Social Contract theory: not through rational agreement or authorisation, but through an effective collective bond. It further examines how Khaldun connects group feeling, royal authority, dynastic consolidation and decline within an interconnected, cyclical account of political change. On this reading, The Muqaddimah offers a distinctive and continuing perspective from which to understand government and political legitimacy.