Autarky

noun

/ˈɔːtɑːki/

A policy of national economic self-sufficiency aimed at reducing or eliminating dependence on foreign imports; India pursued a degree of autarky through import substitution industrialisation and restrictive trade policies from the 1950s until the 1991 liberalisation reforms.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

Although the pandemic and global supply-chain shocks have rekindled calls for self-reliance, a drift towards full autarky would be self-defeating, for it would forfeit the gains of comparative advantage and condemn the economy to higher costs and technological stagnation; "Atmanirbhar Bharat", rightly read, must mean strategic resilience integrated with global trade, not protectionist isolation.

Synonyms

self-sufficiencyeconomic independenceself-relianceautonomyprotectionismisolationism

Antonyms

interdependencefree tradeglobalisationdependence

🌱 Word Family

autarky (n), autarkic (adj), autarkical (adj), autarkically (adv), autarkies (n pl)

🔡 Root

Greek auto- (self) + arkéō (to be sufficient) → autárkēs (self-sufficient) → autárkeia; attested c. 1610s.

📜 Etymology

From Ancient Greek autárkeia ("self-sufficiency, independence"), from autárkēs ("self-sufficient"), from auto- ("self") + arkéō ("to be sufficient, to suffice"); first attested in English c. 1610s.

🧠 Memory Hook

Break it as "auto + arky": "auto-" means self (as in automatic) and the country "arks" (arches over / walls off) its economy — a self-walled, self-supplying nation that needs no one else.

🏛️ History & Culture 📖 Seen in: Planned Economic Development

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