In the Context of War Theories in International Relations, the Causes of Societies' Defeat and Victory in Ibn Khaldûn's Philosophy

Abstract

In this article, the causes that lead states to war, defeat and triumph in Ibn Khaldun's thought will be discussed. Ibn Khaldun adopted an approach to explain wars with social, historical, political and economic factors. Frankly, it is a prerequisite for understanding factual facts that Ibn Khaldun draws attention to the historical context of the issues he wants to explain and predicts future events by analyzing past events and wars. Analyzing historical facts based on this assumption is an important part of his methodology. In his approach, wars are analyzed not only through military strategy but also through their social, historical, geographical, political and economic contexts. Therefore, in this article, his thoughts are presented not only from a state-centered and single-actor approach, but also from a civilization-oriented perspective, in order to help us understand the complexity of wars from the perspective of international relations. The article primarily focuses on the war experience in Ibn Khaldun's life. Then, according to his theory of war, the reasons why societies fight, and then the reasons for victory and defeat, are determined. Finally, Ibn Khaldun's theory is compared in the context of classical war theories in the history of thought and modern war theories.