each other. It is only in the last decades of the Warring States period as the Qin evolved to become the most powerful polity that war was used as the principal device for expansion and control. From 238 bce onwards the rulers of Qin devised a concrete strategy to conquer the other six states. The key idea behind this plan, devised by Ying Zheng, was to attack and annex each state individually along the principle of ‘allying with distant states and attacking nearby ones’ (Tin-Bor Hui, 2005).
Medieval North Africa
Just as with Confucius, Ibn Khaldun’s intellectual project owes a great deal to the historical, political and ideological turbulence of his times. The fourteenth century was a period of protracted crisis in North Africa, a region which in many respects was unlike the rest of the medieval Muslim world. Since the large-scale rebellion of the 730s, inspired by the egalitarian heretic teachings of Kharijism, the rulers of the Maghreb were politically independent from the caliphs of Baghdad and Damascus. This autonomy was rooted in economic strength, as the region was the epicentre of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean trade for centuries. In addition the rulers of the Maghreb kingdoms controlled the gold trade as they had a monopoly on the routes to the Western Sudan’s gold, destined for European and Middle Eastern merchants (Lacoste, 1984: 16). The direct consequence of this trading monopoly was the substantial growth of towns such as Fez, Tlemcen, Bougie, Constantine, Tahert or Kairouan, the centres of prominent medieval kingdoms. However, unlike the relatively centralised imperial orders of the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo or the Ottoman Empire, the North African kingdoms were largely decentralised entities where the rulers controlled the towns and the main trading routes, while the local tribal groupings maintained a wide degree of autonomy. More specifically, unlike feudal Europe where warrior lords controlled vast swaths of peasantry and were all in turn immersed in personal vassalage relations, in North Africa the tribe was the locus of power and solidarity.
Hence, it was not individuals but ‘the tribe that was subject to the chieftain who had granted the right to raise taxes’ (Lacoste, 1984: 21). In this context, the power of individual rulers was heavily dependent on their ability to negotiate with the chieftains of different tribes and their power base was firmly rooted in their tribal group. Simply put, the kings were essentially tribal leaders who assumed control of a confederation of several tribes. The rise of the Almohad Empire in the twelfth century temporarily changed the political landscape of North Africa as the Almohad dynasty unified the Maghreb in 1120. The Almohad period was characterised by a degree of cultural renaissance and the establishment of new universities teaching Greek and Roman philosophy, science, geometry, astronomy and the arts, development of novel artistic and architectural forms, and advancements in jurisprudence and Islamic theology. The leading philosophers of the medieval world found their intellectual home in the Almohad Empire including such distinguished neo-Aristotelians as Averroes (Ibn Rusd), and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides. This period was remembered as the golden age of the Maghreb.
Ibn Khadun was coming of age at the time when the well-established stability of the Hafsid dynastic order was dramatically and substantially undermined by the rising Marinid dynasty, and the neighbouring Zayyanid powers, all struggling to establish entire control of North Africa. Furthermore the inter-dynastic claims within the Hafsid royal court triggered internal conflicts which led to the fragmentation of Hafsid territories under different claimants to the throne. This situation triggered a scramble for territories between different political actors including neighbouring kingdoms, distinct dynastic claimants, and nomadic and semi-nomadic tribal groupings inhabiting the Maghreb region. All these radical geopolitical changes created long-term instability with constant shifts in alliances between rival sides. More significantly, the geopolitical volatility brought about new social realities where on the one hand, no single political power could establish its hegemony and, on the other, the rulers were forced to compromise with different social groups and extend some rights and privileges to non-aristocrats. More specifically, various dynastic claimants welcomed to their courts talented individuals, some of which were without patrician credentials.
Arguments and Ideas
Confucian Social Philosophy
Confucius’s ideas have occasionally been described as a predecessor of sociological thought. For example, Cho (1996: 112) argues that ‘Confucianism was, in a sense, Durkheim’s “moral education” and Weber’s “ethic of responsibility” combined into a single set of doctrines’. However, unlike nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sociologists whose principal focus was to explain the changing dynamics of social life, Confucius’s interests were more prescriptive: to identify the ultimate ethical principles that should govern human conduct. In this Confucius was not unique as nearly all pre-modern thinkers tended to privilege prescription over description and explanation. In a similar vein to Mohists, Confucianism emphasises cosmic harmony between heaven and earth (tian) and endeavours to establish such harmonious relationships in social life: ‘This equilibrium is the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and this harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue’ (Confucius, Chung Yung 1, 1991).
For Confucius, the key guiding moral principle was to strive towards achieving and maintaining virtuous behaviour on both the individual and collective level. In his understanding the social and political virtues directly reflect personal virtues, and virtuous society can only be composed of virtuous citizens. In this context, Confucius advocated traditional values including ancestor worship, the preservation of rituals, respect for the elders by their descendants, clearly defined filial and gender duties, and strong family loyalties. Moreover, the family was seen as the cornerstone of society and the ideal government was to resemble family relationships of love, responsibility and mutual interdependence. Nevertheless, in addition to his moral prescriptions, Confucius was also an astute social analyst who developed a highly influential social philosophy that centred on the importance of self-cultivation and discipline, topics that dominate the latter-day sociologies of both Weber and Elias. For Confucius, a superior human being is defined by his or her ability to exercise self-restraint and to engage in permanent self-cultivation. In his own words, ‘the gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trial’ (Confucius, 19 in The Analects, 1979).
Discipline and Morality
Self-control is understood to be a precondition of individual and social development. In Confucian teachings the lack of discipline is likely to create conditions leading to corruption, abuse of power, inequity and poverty. The prosperity and well-being of a particular social order are premised on the morality and self-restraint of individuals constituting that social order. Since in this view ‘the perfecting of one’s self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development’, there is a great emphasis on education. For Confucius, education involves the acquisition of knowledge which helps develop moral capacity so that individuals can recognise ethical absolutes, and strive towards creating better social order built on such absolutes. Another role of education is to stimulate self-discipline by learning how to observe and enact proper forms of behaviour. In this context, the strict observation of rites (li) is seen as the way to overcome the urge towards self-gratification and fulfilment of one’s self-interest. Hence the performance of particular rituals is not an empty gesture that indicates one’s submission to the rulers or ancestors, but has a specific and functional role: it generates self-restraint and discipline that foster individual and social development. For Confucius, sages are envisaged as the leading lights of moral cultivation. An ideal sage would be someone who constantly aspires towards ethical perfection while also guiding others on the same path towards greater virtuousness. The sage is also understood as a self-critic who espouses the particular ethical principles of Confucianism (which literally means ‘the confession of literati’) and as such articulates high moral standards for the entire society.
Whereas sages are conceptualised as the moral guardians of people and moral supervisors of the rulers, the gentlemen or literati, were understood to be individuals most likely to influence
