The UK is seeking energy independence. The US wants its microchips to be 'made in America'. China is targeting self-sufficiency in food. India wants technological 'self-reliance'. Is this a new age of autarky?

The concept of autarky originated in ancient Greece, where it was both a philosophical ideal and a practical goal of statecraft in a hostile and treacherous world. And the autarkic lure has persisted down the centuries since. In modern times autarky has been adopted as an aspiration by both left wing and right wing movements, by communist and fascist regimes, by empires and anti-imperialists.

For this first of three episodes, Ben Chu, economics editor of BBC Newsnight, charts the rise of modern autarky while also asking: is there something in our human make-up that keeps drawing us back to autarky’s promise of security, control and self-sufficiency?

With contributions from:

Scott Malcomson, former US government official and research fellow
Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge
Helen McCabe, Associate Professor in Political Theory at the University of Nottingham
Brian Doherty, author or ‘Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement’
Lawrence Samuels, former chair of Rampart Institute
Carla Gericke, president emeritus of the Free State Project

Presenter: Ben Chu
Producer: Anouk Millet
Editor: Craig Templeton Smith
A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 Show less