Autarky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic
systems. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance or
international trade. If a self-sufficient economy also refuses all trade with the outside world then it is called a
closed economy.[1]

Autarky is not necessarily an economic phenomenon; for example, a military autarky would be a state that
could defend itself without help from another country, or could manufacture all of its weapons without any
imports from the outside world.

Autarky can be said to be the policy of a state or other entity when it seeks to be self-sufficient as a whole, but
also can be limited to a narrow field such as possession of a key raw material. For example, many countries
have a policy of autarky with respect to foodstuffs[2] and water for national security reasons.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Modern examples
3 Historical example
4 See also
4.1 Local autarky
4.2 National autarky
4.2.1 Support
4.2.2 Opposition
4.2.3 Principles
4.3 Macroeconomic theory
4.3.1 Support
4.3.2 Opposition
4.4 Relevant microeconomic theory
5 References
6 External links

Etymology
The word "autarky" is from the Greek: , which means "self-sufficiency" (derived from -, "self,"
and , "to suffice"). The term is sometimes confused with autocracy (Greek: o "government by
single absolute ruler") or autarchy (Greek: the idea of rejecting government and ruling oneself and
no other).

Modern examples
Mercantilism was a policy followed by empires, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, forbidding or
limiting trade outside the empire. In the 1930s, autarky as a policy goal was sought by Nazi Germany, which
maximized trade within its economic bloc and minimized external trade, particularly with the then world
powers such as Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France, with which it expected to go to war and
consequently could not rely upon. The economic bloc wherein trade was maximized comprised countries that
were economically weaknamely, those in South America, the Balkans, and eastern Europe (Yugoslavia,
Romania, and Hungary)[3]and had raw materials vital to Germany's growth. Trade with these countries,
which was negotiated by then Minister of Economics Hjalmar Schacht, was based on the exchange of German
manufactured produce directly for these materials rather than currency, allowing Schacht to barter without
reliance on the strength of the Reichsmark.[4] However, although food imports fell significantly between 1932
and 1937, Germany's rapid rearmament policy after 1935 proved contradictory to the Nazi Party autarkic
ambitions and imports of raw materials rose by 10% over the same period. German armament spending went
from under 2% of gross national product in 1933 to over 23% in 1939.[5] Germany also relied upon ersatz or
synthetic substitutes, such as nitrile rubber and oil obtained through coal liquefaction.

Until the 1960s, Bhutan, seeking to preserve a manorialist economic and cultural system centered on the dzong,
had maintained an effective economic embargo against the outside world, and has been described as an
autarky.[6] With the introduction of roads and electricity, however, the kingdom has entered trade relations as its
citizens seek modern, manufactured goods.

Today, complete economic autarkies are rare. A possible example of a current attempt at autarky is North
Korea, based on the government ideology of Juche (self-sufficiency), which is concerned with maintaining its
domestic localized economy in the face of its isolation. However, even North Korea has extensive trade with
the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Syria, Iran, Vietnam, and many countries in Europe and
Africa. North Korea had to import food during a widespread famine in the 1990s.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; under the Taliban, 19962001.[7]

Peoples Republic of Albania; Became a near-autarky in 1976, when Communist Party leader Enver
Hoxha instituted a policy of what he termed "self-reliance".[8] Outside trade increased after Hoxha's
death in 1985, though it remained severely restricted until 1991.[9]
Union of Burma; Followed a policy of autarky known as the Burmese Way to Socialism under
dictator Ne Win, who ruled the country from 1962 to 1988;[10]
Dominican Republic; The rural peasants, escaped slaves, and freed slaves that lived in the sparsely
populated woodland interior of the island nation between the 1600s and early 1900s. The weak
Dominican government had no control on these autonomous subsistence agriculture based communities.
Democratic Kampuchea; Under the Khmer Rouge, 19751979.
Nazi Germany; Under Adolf Hitler attempted to end international trade in order to facilitate the war
effort,[11] and considered economic self-sufficiency to be ideal.[12] However, tasked with establishing
full autarky in Germany as part of the Four Year Plan, (beginning in 1936) Hermann Gring failed to
close the German economy;[13]
German Democratic Republic; As a MarxistLeninist state influenced by the USSR, the GDR was
"profoundly influenced by the idea of autarky". Embargoes and tariffs imposed by the West forced the
republic to "maintain the old autarky structures and begin new autarky projects of its own". The Socialist
Unity Party of Germany saw autarky as part of the "genetic code" of socialism in one country.[11]
Guyana; Under Forbes Burnham's PNC dictatorship, from 1970 to 1985.
India; Had a policy of near-autarky that began after its establishment as an independent state, around
1950; it increased until 1980 and ended in 1991 due to imminent bankruptcy.[14]
Kingdom of Italy; Under the rule of dictator Benito Mussolini, claimed to be an autarky,[15]
Italy
especially after the 1935 invasion of Abyssinia and subsequent trade embargoes. However, it still
conducted trade with Germany and elsewhere.
Japan; Was partially an autarky during the era known as the "Edo period", prior to its opening to the
west in the 1850s, as part of its policy of sakoku. There was a moderate amount of trade with
Netherlands, China and Korea; trade with all other countries was confined to a single port on the island
of Dejima.
North Korea; State ideology, Juche, is somewhat based on autarky, though North Korea is not a
genuine autarky as it conducts principles of trade with a few nations, as well as benefits on Chinese
capital and trade.[16]
People's Republic of Romania; in the 1980s. Nicolae Ceauescu proposed such goals as paying the
Romania
entire foreign debt and increasing the number of items produced in the country and their quality. The aim
of these policies was to reduce dependency on foreign imports, as the relationship of Ceauescu with
both Western and Communist leaders was worsening.
South Africa; Was forced into partial autarky during the later Apartheid era, when the country faced
ever-increasing economic sanctions from the international community. These sanctions included an oil
 embargo that gained intensity after the fall of the Shah in Iran. This motivated the state to increase
production from its Sasol coal-to-oil project. The country also expanded its armaments industries,
including the creation of its own atomic bomb.[17][18]
Spain; Under dictator Francisco Franco, was an autarky from 1939 until Franco allowed outside
trade again in 1959, coinciding with the beginning of the Spanish miracle.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; placed at the centre of "socialism in one country" and "socialist
industrialisation",[11] Soviet autarky fell out of favour in events leading up to the collapse of the
USSR,[19] e.g. perestroika[20]
United States; While still emerging from the American Revolution and wary of the economic and
military might of Great Britain, came close to complete autarky in 1808 when President Jefferson
declared a self-imposed embargo on international shipping. The embargo lasted from December 1807 to
March 1809.[21]
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; During the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, UN economic sanctions
forced Slobodan Miloevi's Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) into partial autarky. However,
unofficial international trade in various goods continued throughout the period.

Historical example
Classical Greece; Idealized economic self-sufficiency at the level of oikos and city-state. This ideal broke
down over time, and was redundant by the Hellenistic period.

See also
Local autarky
Commune Traditionalist conservatism
List of food self-sufficiency rates by country Transition town
Kibbutz Movement Urban homesteading and Integral Urban House
Mutualist movement Utopian socialism
Survivalism

National autarky

Support

Anarchist communism Neo-corporatism

Anarcho-syndicalism Producerism
Business nationalism Social corporatism
Collectivist anarchism Solidarity economy
Council communism Solidarity unionism
De Leonism State capitalism
Fascism Syndicalism
Juche
Khmer rouge
Neo-corporatism
Opposition

Anarcho-capitalism Neoliberalism
Classical liberalism Permanent revolution
Fourth International Proletarian internationalism
Liberal internationalism Stateless communism
Libertarian conservatism Trotskyism
Libertarianism World communism
Neoconservatism World revolution
Principles

Isolationism
Nationalism

Macroeconomic theory

Support

Alexander Hamilton Infant industry argument

Alter-globalization Mercantilism
Anti-globalization movement Nationalization
Celso Furtado Protectionism
Core-periphery model Ral Prebisch
Friedrich List Singer-Prebisch thesis
Global justice movement Structuralist economics
Hans Singer
Import Substitution Industrialization
Infant industry argument
Opposition

Austrian School of Economics Milton Friedman

Economic liberalism Neoclassical economics
Free trade agreement Privatization
Free trade
Globalization

Relevant microeconomic theory

Fundamental theorems of welfare economics

Robinson Crusoe economy

References
1. Glossary of International Economics (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/c.html#Closed
Economy%7CDeardorff's).
2. http://aic.ucdavis.edu/research1/BerlinSumner.pdf
3. D. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, (London: Hodder & Stoughton Educational,
1999), 34849.
4. D. Evans & J. Jenkins, Years of Weimar & the Third Reich, 349
5. N., Hehn, Paul (2005-01-01). A low dishonest decade: the great powers, Eastern Europe, and the
economic origins of World War II, 19301941 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810483401). Continuum.
ISBN 0826417612. OCLC 810483401 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/810483401).
6. http://unctad.org/en/Docs/osg2011d1_en.pdf
7. Satyajit Das (3 March 2016). A Banquet of Consequences: The reality of our unusually uncertain
economic future (https://books.google.com/books?id=8wqyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT141). Pearson UK.
p. 141. ISBN 978-1-292-12378-3.
8. "Albania - The Break with China and Self-Reliance" (http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-171.h
tml). Country-data.com. 1985-04-11. Retrieved 2014-03-26.;
9. "Albania Foreign Economic Relations" (http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-243.html).
Country-data.com. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
10. Melissa Crouch; Tim Lindsey (23 October 2014). Law, Society and Transition in Myanmar (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=3jHtBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA292). Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-
78225-476-8.
 11. Hartmut Berghoff; Uta Andrea Balbier (7 October 2013). The East German Economy, 19452010:
Falling Behind Or Catching Up? (https://books.google.com/books?id=UU2yAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA77).
Cambridge University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-107-03013-8.
12. David Welch (4 September 2014). Nazi Propaganda (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust): The Power and
the Limitations (https://books.google.com/books?id=tnJsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA117). Routledge. p. 117.
ISBN 978-1-317-62083-9.
13. Roderick Stackelberg (12 December 2007). The Routledge Companion to Nazi Germany (https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=Uwh_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270). Routledge. p. 270. ISBN 978-1-134-39386-2.
14. "Commanding Heights : India | on PBS" (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/in/
in_full.html). Pbs.org. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
15. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071014194808/http://westernmind.com/syllabus/syllabu
s20c/09_mussolini.html). Archived from the original (http://www.westernmind.com/syllabus/syllabus20
c/09_mussolini.html) on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2016-02-06.;
16. "The China-North Korea Relationship" (http://www.cfr.org/china/china-north-korea-
relationship/p11097). Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
17. http://www.csmonitor.com/1986/0703/olon.html
18. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/2013/12/10/what-reagan-got-right-about-south-african-
sanctions/
19. Thomas A. Baylis; Dr David Childs; Erwin L. Collier; Marilyn Rueschemeyer (11 September 2002).
East Germany in Comparative Perspective (https://books.google.com/books?id=J3eIAgAAQBAJ&pg=P
A142). Routledge. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-134-98767-2.
20. Yoshiko M. Herrera (26 March 2007). Imagined Economies: The Sources of Russian Regionalism (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=aLbv8p_mmlcC&pg=PA127). Cambridge University Press. p. 127.
ISBN 978-0-521-53473-4.
21. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090325075139/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dirwin/Emb
argo.pdf) (PDF). Archived from the original (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dirwin/Embargo.pdf) (PDF) on
2009-03-25. Retrieved 2016-02-06.

External links
Autarky in Spain, an article discussing autarky in Francoist Spain.

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This page was last edited on 24 August 2017, at 12:59.

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