AUTARCHY. - Depending on whether it derives from αὐτάρχια or αὐτάρχια, the term takes on the sense of self-government or of self-sufficiency. The first finds application in administrative law, where it serves to indicate an entity to which the faculty of governing itself is attributed: the second, in the theory of the State, in economic policy and in the international order, indicates the property of a subject that is sufficient to itself in its end and in the means to achieve it.
The conception of the State as an essentially autarchic entity goes back to Aristotle and is upheld in the Catholic current from St. Thomas onward, who continued to define it as a perfect society. Since the State has a natural end encompassing all the goods of human life, not subordinate to any other superior end of the same order, and since by virtue of such autonomy it is not destined to be part of another society, as the individual and the family are, it must have of itself whatever is necessary to its life, that is, be self-sufficient, possessing the minimum of means indispensable to the attainment of its purpose on behalf of the human person.
Connected to autarchy is also an economic principle, according to which the means of production should be adjusted to consumption, and the related policy, which aims to stimulate the exploitation of internal resources in order to achieve self-sufficiency. It is not to be confused with protectionism, which aims to protect the national market from foreign competition, since autarchy tends to eliminate, to the widest possible extent, dependencies on abroad, especially with a view to defense in case of conflict. The pursuit of a relative autarchy falls within the natural tasks of the State, which is responsible for stimulating and directing production and providing for defense: an absolute autarchy, however, is unattainable, because of the different distribution of the materials necessary for life and civil progress, nor is it required by the ends of the State, which can be achieved through collaboration and exchange.
On the concepts referred to, in the last twenty years, new political conceptions of international law have been erected. Starting from the principle of the requirement of the State's autarchy, understood in an absolute sense, one has concluded to a right of vital expansion in favor of States that did not possess such self-sufficiency and could not achieve it through the exploitation of internal resources. This conclusion served as support for the theory of living space and the related international arrangement. It should be noted, however, that self-sufficiency cannot serve as a foundation for the aforementioned theory, which rests on gratuitous assertions. If all States are relatively autarchic, all have an equal right to live and to possess the means indispensable to their existence. Moreover, since total self-sufficiency is not required by the end of the State, the basis for the alleged right of vital expansion is lacking, because it is deduced from a false premise.
With respect to the concept of autarchy as unlimited moral autonomy of the State, v. ASSOLUTISMO.
Bibliography7 works
Antonio Messineo