Talk:Autarky/Archives/2013

Autarky vs. Autarchy
I think this is wrong:
 * The term comes from Greek language, where it properly means "self-government", and effectively it is typically connected with political evaluations or determinations.

I think the -arky bit comes from Greek Arkein, to suffice, so I changed the article accordingly. Enchanter, Friday, July 12, 2002


 * Correct. Self-government is autarchy, which is pronounced the same in English but not in Greek. -phma 18:09, 12 July 2002 (UTC)


 * autarchy redirects to this article. should it point to self-government  --Rj 17:39, Nov 13, 2004 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid there is a language problem here, in British English Autarchy means the same as Autarky in American English, for example this link names what the American equivalent calls Autarky as Autarchy, I will therefore make a distinction between the too. --JDnCoke 17:51, 2 October 2005 (UTC)


 * The definition is the same in American English. Editing that nonsense out. JFHJr (㊟) 18:13, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

USSR
Unless anyone has any objections I'll go ahead and remove the below passage. Socialism in one country did not require a specific programme of autarky (even if the Soviets did generally keep a distance from the West) in either theory or practice. While not an integral part of the global economic system, during the 1930s the USSR was definitely involved in world trade and had absolutely no qualms about importing the required technical expertise/equipment. I can provide figures from RW Davies if required. I'm not even sure what relevance Lysenko has to Soviet foreign trade


 * "The Soviet Union during Stalin's reign was proposing a doctrine labeled Socialism in One Country. Although it was not necessarily an absolute form of autarky it contained elements supporting an isolationist policy, such as claims of Russian pre-eminence in various scientific fields, attempts of dissociating the scientific grounds from the Western synchronic theories (the Lysenko affair) and others.[citation needed]"

GreatGodOm (talk) 19:18, 6 July 2009 (UTC)


 * And beyond that, the soviets imported alot of food from the US, even during the cold war. thats far from self-sufficient. Joesolo13 (talk) 18:55, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Rework of Intro
I have completely reworked the introductory paragraph because it is wrong in many particulars. For example, the original paragraph described only economic autarky and assumes that economic autarky is the only kind of autarky possible which is incorrect. Also, the original intro incorrectly assumes autarky must be the policy of a sovereign nation. Autarky can the policy not only of a nation, but of a state with a nation, a city, a village, or even an individual person (ie, a hermit). Yet another problem with the old intro was that it equated autarky with a closed economy. This is completely wrong. Autarky requires only self-sufficiency. As long as imports and exports do not damage self-sufficiency they are consistent with autarky. To claim that autarkies ban exports is wrong and historically inaccurate. John Chamberlain (talk) 21:57, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Benefit of globalization?

 * The globalisation process has reinforced the concept of comparative advantage as economies in the world decide to lose barriers that minimise productivity such as self-sufficient methods. Cheaper input costs, access to a variety of products and an improvement in the standard of living are motivational factors to the reduction in complete self-sufficiency.

I find the conclusion that globalization is a panacea unfounded without at least a citation. If anything some of the aforementioned examples from Post Revolutionary America to Nazi Germany coincided with periods of prosperity and economic ascension when autarky was practiced heavily but not absolutely or over extremely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.11.40.173 (talk) 22:02, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Isolated islands & uncontaced tribes
I just wonder if it would make sense to include a link to the uncontacted peoples article somewhere, with the Sentinelese people being the most extreme example. Also, Easter Island in its early history would have been an autarky, no? The list of countries at the moment seems rather narrow historically. Esn (talk) 05:04, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

down with territorial administration!
Do we really need details on Nazi internal governance in the thirties here? I think "modern examples" doesn't need to go back to the 1930s, perhaps these fascinating details could be moved to a section "Self-sufficiency in Nazi Germany" perhaps in the historical examples section or struck from the page altogether. Readers are here to find out what Autarky means, not to learn the name of Hitler's Minister of Economics. 74.62.64.196 (talk) 02:33, 8 September 2012 (UTC)