Autarky

Autarchie, or contentednes, vvhich is a vertue vvhereby vve are contented vvith thoſe things vvhich vve preſently enioy, & haue iuſtly gotten, & meekly ſuffer poverty & other diſcommodities, neither are broken through vvant or penury, nor gape after other mens goods or ſubſtance, nor covet things needleſſe and vnneceſſary.

Let vs rather turne our eyes, to behold and vvonder at the Diuine royalties and endovvments of it, it being in man the principall part of GODS Image, and that by vvhich Man reſembleth moſt the Autarchie and ſelf-ſufficiencie of GOD, vvhich I graunt is proper to his Infiniteneſſe, to be content and compleat vvithin it ſelfe: […]

But a good man ſhall be ſatisfied from himſelf] For he hath a ſpring vvithin his ovvn breaſt, he needs not ſharke abroad: he hath an autarkie, a ſelf-ſufficiency, 1 Tim[othy] 6.6.

[T]hus far the Author is a profeſſed Leveller in his practick judgement, paſt and preſent; a very Lazarus, that gathereth little; yet by Some other benediction, of Autarkie and Self-ſufficiency, a very Dives, He hath no lack.

[T]he autonomy and autarky of the moral spirit, which looks for its happiness not to what is outside it or above it, but within, forming itself according to the law of its own being to a harmonious work of art, a microcosm, which finds in the outer world the object it reflects, as the outer world finds in it its copy.

A general autarky in culture simply will not work: the hope of perpetuating the culture of any country lies in communication with others.

Selfe-ſufficiencie is the end.] To haue all things, and to vvant or deſire nothing, is Selfe-ſufficiencie, Ariſtot: Polit. Lib. 7. Cap. 5. This autarchie or ſelfe-ſufficiencie, is the end and the good contained in the forme of a Citie, and conſequently is the end of all other ſocieties.

If it were proved that these objects, that is to say prosperity, power, economic independence, could be attained by a policy of effective and complete autarky, there is no doubt that it would soon be carried into effect; […] But be that as it may, autarky does not permit the attainment of the objects which we have just mentioned. In reality, autarky is nowhere put into application.

[T]he concept of autarky is premised on the existence of economic relations required to fulfill needs for non-self-sufficient goods through interchange with outside areas. In fact, a self-sufficient society in the strict sense of the term has never existed anywhere in the world since the dawn of human history. If "closing of the ports" is a monopolistic system for control of foreign relations by state authority through which that state authority can regulate by force the influx of goods and economic activity that might threaten the maintenance of its class control, it can only really be called a policy for achieving the economic autarky of the state.

So, although the origin of "political economy" is the household unit, this alone is not enough to meet all needs. The co-operative effort of large numbers of people is required to build irrigation systems, defences against enemies and so on. The village is a further natural development. A final development to meet greater needs is the polis itself, the city-state. The principle at work here is autarky (autos, "self" and arkeo, "suffice") or self-sufficiency.