In
general,
expansionism
consists
of
expansionist
policies.
While
some
have
linked
the
term
to
promoting
economic
growth
(in
contrast
to
no
growth
/
sustainable
policies),
more
commonly
expansionism
refers
to
the
doctrine
of a
nation's
expanding
its
territorial
base
(or
economic
influence)
usually
by
means
of
military
aggression.
Irredentism, revanchism or reunification are sometimes used to justify and legitimize expansionism, but only when the explicit goal is to reconquer territories that have been lost, or even to take over ancestral lands. A simple territorial dispute, such as a border dispute, is not usually referred to as expansionism.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Expansionism".