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Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406): A Precursor of Intercivilizational Discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2015

YOLANDA GAMARRA
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Abstract

This article shows how the political, historical, sociological, and economic narrative of Ibn Khaldun influenced the conjunction of elements that were essential to the civilizing language promoted by European and American liberals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The ‘standard of civilization’ has experienced a revival among critical legal scholars. These authors have reconstructed a historical process of ‘rise, fall, and rise’ of the ‘standard of civilization’, identifying its reappearance in an era of globalization and global governance with the current existence of a (neo-)colonial paradigm in international law and a (neo-)liberal global economy. This study is divided into three parts intended to examine in depth the precursory role of this Islamic thinker in the shaping of civilizing language. The first part examines Ibn Khaldun's life as a way of understanding his thinking on civilization. The second part explores the influence of Ibn Khaldun's work on the discourse surrounding the standard of civilization, by reintroducing the interpretation of Rafael Altamira (1866–1951). The third starts with Ibn Khaldun's writings on economic science and Joseph Spengler's (1902–1991) approach to his works. Several Islamic economic institutions and their influence on the state and concept of international society are examined. The revival of Ibn Khaldun's thinking is partly intended to fill an existing gap in the studies of medieval Islamic theorists. By examining his ideas about the socio-political and economic viability of a dynasty (or a civilization or a state), this article attempts to shed light on the intercultural origins of international law.

Keywords

civilizational discourseeconomicslawnation-statesocio-history
Type
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 441 - 456
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 2015 

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References

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73 President Reagan did not intend to reduce tax revenues but increase them by restricting tax rates. Having this idea in mind, he paraphrased Ibn Khaldun saying: ‘At the beginning of the empire, the tax rates were low and the revenues were high. At the end of the empire, the tax rates were high and the revenues were low’. Reagan's Administration sought to reduce heavy taxes to achieve high-income. Reagan, R., ‘Excuse Me, Mr. Clinton, I must have Misheard You’, International Herald Tribune, 2 October 1981, at 4Google Scholar.

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88 Ibid., at 289.

89 Ibid., at 304.

90 Ibid., at 305.

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