Ibn Khaldoun (Birth of History, Third World Past), by Yves Lacoste

Ibn Khaldoun's work sheds light on a very important stage in the past of countries which belong to what is called the “Third World”. By making, in the ^fourteenth century, a scientific analysis of the economic, social and political conditions of medieval North Africa, Ibn Khaldoun in fact posed a number of very complex historical problems, the slow evolution of which determined a long process historical: subject to external influences, which were also decisive, these structures made colonial domination possible in the ^19th century; and this has led to the current situation of underdevelopment.
This study, which has become classic, of the work of Ibn Khaldoun, retains all its topicality. Not only has this work made a decisive contribution to the discipline of history, but it still arouses debate today, particularly in the Arab world, where certain radical Islamist currents strongly contest it. Retracing in particular the way in which the works of this great historian have been received in contemporary times, this book also constitutes a decisive contribution to the understanding of the current problems of the Maghreb, and particularly of Algeria.

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About the author: Yves Lacoste

Yves Lacoste is a geographer, specialist in geopolitics, founder and director of the review Hérodote. He is the author in particular of Unity and Diversity of the Third World (Maspero, 1980), of the Dictionary of Geopolitics (Flammarion, 1996), and of Water in the World. The battles for life (Larousse, 2007).