Autarkic By Deane Barker • September 8, 2021 • Definition: a policy of establishing a self-sufficient and independent national economy Why I Looked It Up A book on the oil industry said this about an economic recession. Only the Soviet Union, with its autarkic planned economy, was unaffected. Postscript I found this definition in a discussion of fascism: Autarky: fascist countries reject both economic socialism and the free market of capitalism and prefer to be completely self-sufficient without relying on other nations. I found this quote in a book about financial networks: Mid-century dreams of autarky yielded to a glad, confident era where comparative advantage could once again be exploited.