How far is too far?

In the face of rising nationalism, countries seek to stake their independent ground, separate themselves from their competitors, and be shown to be self-reliant and reliable. In the early twentieth century, China relied heavily on the notion of autarky, to be economically independent and self-sufficient. Later in the century, North Korea focused on a similar self-reliance, or juche, bearing a striking resemblance to earlier Chinese concepts, yet far more extreme in their implications.

Both China's autarky and Korea's juche were important to each respective country in order to assert their sovereignty and reaffirm their supposed superiority compared to the rest of the world. It was a method of rallying the civilians and gaining support to feed the ever hungry power-machine.

However as a result of this strict self-reliance and independence from the globalised world, particularly countries such as North Korea are placed in a perpetual war-ready state. Despite juche being introduced to North Korea almost 50 years ago by the then "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung, this places the current Prime Minister Kim Jong-il in a position where he is determined to maintain the almost total seclusion from the outside world. This creates world security problems abound and places any attempts at a peaceful reunification with  South Korea almost unimaginable.

Despite this great precedence placed on the notion of juche, the contradictions in economic independence are palpable.This is particularly evident with the millions to billions of dollars in financial and military aid that North Korea receives each year.

So although there are obvious positives to the notion of economic independence and self-sufficiency, great paradoxes are rife and  the longevity of a states' government and successful autarkic rule are seriously questionable.