  The circumgalactic medium (CGM) is often assumed to exist in or near
hydrostatic equilibrium with the regulation of accretion and the effects of
feedback treated as perturbations to a stable balance between gravity and
thermal pressure. We investigate global hydrostatic equilibrium in the CGM
using four highly-resolved $L^*$ galaxies from the Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies
In Enzo (FOGGIE) project. The FOGGIE simulations were specifically targeted at
fine spatial and mass resolution in the CGM ($\Delta x \lesssim 1$ kpc $h^{-1}$
and $M \simeq 200M_\odot$). We develop a new analysis framework that calculates
the forces provided by thermal pressure gradients, turbulent pressure
gradients, ram pressure gradients of large-scale radial bulk flows, centrifugal
rotation, and gravity acting on the gas in the CGM. Thermal and turbulent
pressure gradients vary strongly on scales of $\lesssim5$ kpc throughout the
CGM. Thermal pressure gradients provide the main supporting force only beyond
$\sim 0.25R_{200}$, or $\sim50$ kpc at $z=0$. Within $\sim0.25R_{200}$,
turbulent pressure gradients and rotational support provide stronger forces
than thermal pressure. More generally, we find that global equilibrium models
are neither appropriate nor predictive for the small scales probed by
absorption line observations of the CGM. Local conditions generally cannot be
derived by assuming a global equilibrium, but an emergent global equilibrium
balancing radially inward and outward forces is obtained when averaging over
the non-equilibrium local conditions on large scales in space and time.
Approximate hydrostatic equilibrium holds only at large distances from galaxies
even when averaging out small-scale variations.
