The subject of this journal is autarchy, and how it can be implemented in the context of a small village in the south-west of France. Autarchy is a philosophical, social, political and economic approach to the question: how best to live one’s life. It is not a system and has no creed or dogma. It requires no suspension of disbelief, no act of faith. It is one method among many that attempts to answer a few basic questions about work and conduct and our interaction with the world. It is an approach to the problem of living, and is flexible, adaptable and open-ended.
It should not be confused with Autarky. These two words share a common prefix, auto, self – but their endings are distinct and divergent. These two derivatives of similar but different Greek roots (archein, to rule; arkeein, to suffice) are frequently confused. ‘Autarchy’ means self-government, usually nowadays without pejorative overtones. ‘Autarky’ is invariably used pejoratively to mean self-government in a manner condemned by the speaker. A regime is autarkic if it tries to be self-sufficient by cutting off trade and intercourse with the rest of the world.
Autarchy is not the same as autarky, and it certainly shares nothing with anarchy. It simply means self-government, in the sense of self-sufficiency. It contains within its meaning sufficient common sense within a framework of logic, to withstand the basic interrogations: what shall I do in this life and what is worth doing – whether I am male or female, parent or child, single or family.
