Autarchist

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person who supports a system in which a nation or state is economically self-sufficient and governs itself without outside control
2. Someone who believes in complete economic and political independence, rejecting reliance on foreign trade or external authority
3. A supporter of autarky, the principle that a country should be entirely self-reliant and free from dependence on other states

Etymology: Autarchist is formed from "autarchy", a word that came into English in the 1640s from Greek "autarkhia", meaning "absolute rule" or "sole power", built from "autos" (self) and "arkhein" (to rule). The original sense was plainly about a single ruler holding unlimited authority, which is why autocracy is its close cousin, though autarchy has a separate older history in Greek thought about self-sufficiency. The noun "autarchist" follows the usual English pattern of adding "-ist" to a root to name a supporter or practitioner, so an autarchist is someone who favours or advocates rule by an absolute, self-governing authority. Its use is mostly confined to political writing, where it is often used in discussing regimes that concentrate power in one person or small group.