Realism and its limitations for Ibn Khaldūn

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article revisits the work of ‘Abd al-Raḥman Ibn Khaldūn from the perspective of political theory, reading him as a proponent of a mode of realist political thought. Seeking to move beyond reductive tendencies in existing secondary literature on his work, I argue first, that he develops a conception of politics as tied to nature that leads to sensitivity towards instability in political life. Second, Ibn Khaldūn offers a vision of ideals as tied to a realist framework that moves beyond the pitfalls of views of tragic division between these discourses. By setting theological motifs within a realist framework, he can be said to theorise ideals in a manner that is responsive to everyday political life, while also removed from it, and by doing so, he passes critical judgment on political affairs in a manner that is in keeping with the spirit of certain strands of realism.