Geography's Role in Nationalism and Imperialism

Geography's effect on imperialism and nationalism is more notable in real life than the game of RISK. Most importantly, the resources that regions have effect what they do with neighboring regions. Nations may want to conquer certain regions because of the resources that will help them. There is an interesting relationship between Imperialism and Nationalism. In one sense, they go together because people have pride in their country when there is Imperialistic success. For example, I personally would be very proud if America were to conquer other countries and expand its culture through neighboring regions. I love the United States as it is, but I would be even happier with my country if it were to be even more successful from an Imperialism standpoint. On the other hand, it is very difficult to keep a country unified as it expands. When countries take over other countries, it is nearly impossible for the new people to immediately be happy and proud of their country. It is hard even for them to truly be a part of the nation because they are coming in from a different background and different political and social views. This is the case that we saw mostly from our risk game. It was very difficult to be successful with Nationalism and Imperialism because when your territory expanded to other continents, nationalism went down. (One difference between RISK and real life was that in real life people could understand the consequences of expanding, because they are not told in the MIDDLE OF THE GAME ) :)