Editing Autarky (section)

=== Ancient and medieval ===
Early state societies that can be regarded as autarkic include [[nomadic pastoralism]] and [[palace economy]], though over time these tend towards becoming less self-sufficient and more interconnected. The late [[Bronze Age]], for example, saw formerly self-sufficient palace economies rely more heavily on trade, which may have been a contributing factor to the eventual [[Late Bronze Age collapse|Bronze Age Collapse]] when multiple crises hit those systems at once. After that collapse, the ideal of ''autarkeia'' formed a part of emerging Greek political culture, emphasizing economic self-sufficiency<ref>{{Cite book |title=The ancient world at work. |last=Mossé |first=Claude |date=1969 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0393053982 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientworldatwo0000moss/page/27 27–28] |oclc=66672 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientworldatwo0000moss/page/27}}</ref> and local self-rule.

The populist Chinese philosophy of [[Agriculturalism]], prominent in the [[Spring and Autumn period|Spring and Autumn]] and [[Warring States period|Warring States]] periods, supported egalitarian, self-sufficient<ref>{{Cite book |last=Denecke |first=Wiebke |title=The Dynamics of Masters Literature |date=2011 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1dnn8mc |isbn=978-1684170586}}</ref> societies as an antidote to rampant war and corruption.

During the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|Late Roman Empire]], some rebellions and communities pursued autarky as a reaction both to upheaval and to counter imperial power. A prominent example is the [[Bagaudae|Bacaude]], who repeatedly rebelled against the empire and "formed self-governing communities" with their own{{sfn|Federici|2004|p=50}} internal economy and coinage.

[[Medieval commune]]s combined an attempt at overall economic self-sufficiency through the use of common lands and resources with the use of mutual defense pacts, neighborhood assemblies and organized militias to preserve local autonomy{{sfn|Bookchin|2017|pp=105–108}} against the depredations of the local nobility. Many of these communes later became trading powers such as the [[Hanseatic League]]. In some cases, communal village economies maintained their own debt system<ref>{{Cite book|title=Debt : the first 5,000 years|last=David.|first=Graeber|year=2011|publisher=Melville House|isbn=978-1612191294|location=Brooklyn, NY|oclc=426794447|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/debtfirst5000yea0000grae}}</ref> as part of a self-sufficient economy and to avoid reliance on possibly hostile aristocratic or business interests. The trend toward "local self-sufficiency" increased{{sfn|Federici|2004|p=62}} after the [[Black Death|Black Plague]], initially as a reaction to the impact of the epidemic and later as a way for communes and city states to maintain power against the nobility.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bath |first=B. H. S. Van. |title=The Agrarian History of Western Europe, A.D. |isbn=978-0713153354 |oclc=650486546 |year=1963|publisher=Arnold }}</ref>

There is considerable debate about how autarkic cultures that resisted the spread of early capitalism were. [[Golden Age of Piracy|Golden Age pirate]] communities have been dubbed both heavily autarkic societies where<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ritchie |first=Robert C. |title=Captain Kidd and the war against the pirates |date=1998 |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble Books]] |isbn=0760708401 |location=New York |oclc=48085772}}</ref> "the marauders...lived in small, self-contained democracies" and as an "anti-autarky" due<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuhn |first=Gabriel |title=Life under the Jolly Roger: reflections on golden age piracy |date=2020 |isbn=978-1629638034 |location=Oakland, CA |page=41 |oclc=1159982546}}</ref> to their dependence on raiding.

While rarer among imperial states, some autarkies did occur during specific time periods. The [[Ming dynasty]], during its earlier, more isolationist period, kept a closed economy that prohibited outside trade and focused on centralized distribution of goods produced in localized farms and workshops.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/1587yearofnosign00huan|title=1587, a year of no significance : the Ming dynasty in decline |last=Ray |first=Huang |date=1981 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=0300025181 |location=New Haven |oclc=6280586}}</ref> A hierarchy of bureaucrats oversaw<ref>{{Cite book |title=The traditional Chinese state in Ming times (1368–1644) |last=Hucker |first=Charles O. |date=1970 |publisher=[[University of Arizona Press]] |isbn=0816500932 |location=Tucson |oclc=906066347}}</ref> the distribution of these resources from central depots, including a massive one located in the [[Forbidden City]]. That depot was, at the time, the largest logistical base in the world. The [[Inca Empire|Incan Empire]] also maintained a system of society-wide autarky based on community levies of specific goods and "supply on command".