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Autarky is the characteristic of
self-sufficiency, usually applied to
societies, communities, states and their
economic systems. The word autarky is from the
Greek: αὐτάρκεια, which means "self-sufficiency" (derived from
αὐτο-, "self", and
ἀρκέω, "to suffice"). The term is sometimes confused with
autocracy (Greek:
αὐτoκρατία "government by single absolute ruler") or
autarchy (Greek:
αὐταρχία – the idea of rejecting government and ruling oneself and no other).
Autarky as an ideal or method has been embraced by a wide range of
political ideologies and movements, especially
left-wing ideologies like
African socialism,
mutualism,
war communism,
council communism,
Communalism,
Swadeshi,
syndicalism (especially
anarcho-syndicalism) and
leftist populism, generally in an effort to build alternative economic structures or to control resources against structures a particular movement views as hostile.
Conservative,
centrist and
nationalist movements have also adopted autarky in an attempt to preserve part of an existing
social order or to develop a particular industry. Some
right-wing populist and
far-right movements occasionally espoused autarky as a goal.
Proponents of autarky have argued for
national self-sufficiency to reduce foreign economic, political and cultural influences, as well as to promote international peace. Economists are generally supportive of free trade. There is a broad consensus among economists that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and economic welfare while free trade and the reduction of
trade barriers has a positive effect on economic growth and economic stability.
Autarky may be a policy of a state or some other type of entity when it seeks to be self-sufficient as a whole, but it also can be limited to a narrow field such as possession of a key raw material. Some countries have a policy of autarky with respect to foodstuffs and water for
national-security reasons. Autarky can result from economic isolation or from external circumstances in which a state or other entity reverts to localized production when it lacks currency or excess production to trade with the outside world.
An
autarkic economy that also
will not or can not conduct outside trade is known as a
closed economy.
Early state societies that can be regarded as autarkic include
nomadic pastoralism and
palace economy, though over time these tend towards becoming less self-sufficient and more interconnected. The late
Bronze Age, for example, saw formerly self-sufficient palace economies rely more heavily on trade, which may have been a contributing factor to the eventual
Bronze Age Collapse when multiple crises hit those systems at once. After that collapse, the ideal of autarkeia formed a part of emerging Greek political culture, emphasizing economic self-sufficiency and local self-rule.
During the
Late Roman Empire, some rebellions and communities pursued autarky as a reaction both to upheaval and to counter imperial power. A prominent example is the
Bacaude, who repeatedly rebelled against the empire and "formed self-governing communities" with their own internal economy and coinage.
Medieval communes combined an attempt at overall economic self-sufficiency through the use of common lands and resources with the use of mutual defense pacts, neighborhood assemblies and organized militias to preserve local autonomy against the depredations of the local nobility.
Many of these communes later became trading powers such as the Hanseatic League. In some cases, communal village economies maintained their own debt system as part of a self-sufficient economy and to avoid reliance on possibly hostile aristocratic or business interests. The
trend toward "local self-sufficiency" increased after the Black Plague, initially as a
reaction to the impact of the epidemic and later as a way for communes and city states to
maintain power against the nobility.
Autarkic ambitions can also be seen in the
Populist backlash to the exploitations of free trade in the late 19th-century and in many
early Utopian Socialist movements.
Mutual aid societies like the
Grange and
Sovereigns of Industry attempted to set up self-sufficient economies (with varying degrees of success) in an effort to be less dependent on what they saw as an exploitative economic system and to generate more power to push for reforms.
Communist movements embraced or dismissed autarky as a goal at different times. In her survey of
anarchism in the late 1800s,
Voltairine De Cleyre summarized the
autarkic goals of
early anarchist socialists and communists as "small, independent, self-resourceful, freely-operating communes."
Peter Kropotkin in particular advocated local and regional autarky integrating agriculture and industry, instead of the international division of labor.
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (
Пётр Алексе́евич
Кропо́ткин; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a
Russian anarchist,
socialist,
revolutionary,
economist,
sociologist,
historian,
zoologist,
political scientist,
human geographer and
philosopher who advocated
anarcho-communism. He was also an
activist,
essayist,
researcher and
writer.
Early socialist movements used these autarkic efforts to build their base with institutions like the
Bourse de travail, socialist canteens and food assistance. These played a major role in securing workers' loyalty and building those parties into increasingly powerful institutions (especially in Europe) throughout the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. Through these cooperatives "workers bought Socialist bread and Socialist shoes, drank Socialist beer, arranged for Socialist vacations and obtained a Socialist education."
Today, national economic autarkies are
relatively rare. A commonly-cited example is
North Korea, based on the government ideology of
Juche (
self-reliance), which is concerned with maintaining its domestic localized economy in the face of its isolation. However, even North Korea has
extensive trade with
Russia,
China,
Syria,
Iran,
Vietnam,
India and many countries in Europe and Africa. North Korea had to import food during a widespread
famine in the 1990s.
A better modern example at a
societal level is the
autonomous region of Rojava,
the autonomous northern region of Syria. Largely cut off from international trade, facing multiple enemies, and striving for a society based on
communalism, Rojava's government and constitution emphasize economic self-sufficiency directed by neighborhood and village councils. Rojavan society and economics are influenced by Bookchin's ideas, including the emphasis on local and regional self-governance. Under changes made in 2012 property and business belong to those who live in or use it towards these goals, while infrastructure, land and major resources are commons run by local and regional councils. Bookchin however was concerned about the effects of autarkism in respect to the closing off of a community and therefore always stressed the need for a balance between localism and globalism.
An example of a
contemporary effort at localized autarky, incorporating the concept's history from
black nationalism, Ujamaa,
African-American socialism and the
civil rights movement, is
Cooperation Jackson, a
movement aimed at creating a self-sufficient black working class economy in Jackson, Mississippi. The movement has aimed to secure land and build self-sufficient cooperatives and workplaces "to democratically transform the political economy of the city" and push back against gentrification. Cooperation Jackson also saw a gain in electoral political power when its involvement proved pivotal to the 2013 mayoral election of
Chokwe Lumumba and the 2017 election of his son,
Chokwe Antar Lumumba.
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