DR JUN.-22

 A profound wave of yearning for economic self-sufficiency is surging globally. Donald Trump’s declaration of “economic independence” for the United States appears to sever the nation from the intricate global trading edifice it so meticulously constructed post-World War II—a framework that has historically yielded considerable economic dividends across nations. Yet Trump is hardly singular in this trajectory. China’s Xi Jinping has long extolled zili gengsheng, or self-reliance, prompting concerted efforts to discourage imports and invigorate domestic production across sectors, from agronomy to semiconductors. Vladimir Putin, defiant in the face of extensive Western sanctions, asserted Russia’s total autarky. Narendra Modi echoes a parallel impulse in Atmanirbhar Bharat, advocating a self-reliant India. Even the once outward-leaning European Union is reconsidering economic autonomy in domains like energy and defence.

This exaltation of autarky denotes a momentous rupture from the postwar orthodoxy of globalisation—the conviction that deeper interdependence among states fosters collective peace and prosperity. However, the inclination toward inwardness is far from novel. It is an ancient instinct, as deeply entrenched in individual psychology as in national ideology. To fully grasp its tenacity, one must interrogate the feedback loop between personal and collective self-sufficiency.

In antiquity, the Cynic philosopher Diogenes epitomised this ethos. Dwelling in a barrel in Corinth and expressing scorn through canine mimicry, Diogenes reportedly rebuffed Alexander the Great’s magnanimous offer with a minimalist rejoinder: “Stand a little out of my sun.” Whether apocryphal or not, the anecdote has endured two millennia as a symbolic zenith of sovereign detachment. The term autarky, from the Greek auto (self) and arkeo (to suffice), encapsulates this moral ideal: independence from others as a path to intellectual and ethical clarity—even if it entails affronting emperors from a barrel.

Aristotle, a near-contemporary of Diogenes, extended this paradigm to the city-state. The ideal polis, he posited, must be self-contained and fully equipped for the eudaimonic (good) life. Man, as a “political animal,” flourishes not in solitary self-sufficiency but in an interwoven collective of family, citizens, and civic infrastructure. This fusion of the personal and the political survived into Christian thought. Thomas Aquinas, synthesising Aristotelian logic with Catholic theology, defined God as the only truly self-sufficient being—immutable, unneeding. Accordingly, greater self-sufficiency drew one closer to divine likeness. Economically too, Aquinas saw merit in autarky. In De Regno, he deemed a city reliant on its own fields nobler than one trading for sustenance, cautioning that commerce stirs avarice.

In Japan, the Tokugawa sakoku policy (closed country) emerged from analogous motives—curbing colonial influence and Christian intrusion by arresting trade and foreign contact. Elsewhere, Enlightenment philosopher Rousseau posited in Discourse on Inequality a primordial man—solitary, unburdened by social compacts, free. His nationalist recommendations to Corsica and Poland—produce locally, avoid foreign trade—echo Diogenes in policy form. Johann Gottlieb Fichte advanced this to geopolitical doctrine in The Closed Commercial State, contending that disentangled economies alone could foster peace and national honour.

In the 19th century, Charles Fourier’s radical phalansteries—self-sufficient communes synthesising asceticism and collectivism—carried this lineage forward. His vision, equal parts utopia and satire, would echo through kibbutzim and counterculture communes, proof that the impulse toward autarky, though dressed in various guises, remains potent.

Difficult Word Meanings

  • Autarky: Economic self-sufficiency; not relying on external aid or trade.

  • Orthodoxy: Traditionally accepted theory or belief.

  • Exaltation: The act of glorifying or praising something.

  • Apocryphal: Of doubtful authenticity, though widely circulated.

  • Eudaimonic: Pertaining to human flourishing or well-being.

  • Immutable: Unchanging over time.

  • Avarice: Extreme greed for wealth.


  • Word Count: 586

  • Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: ~16

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