What constitutes "winning" in the real world?

During our game of Risk, the distinction between winning states and losing states was constantly visible; one merely had to glance at the board to gain a visual synopsis of territorial might, resource wars, and vulnerable enclaves, or refer to the diplomatic standing board for an organized depiction of international relations. The real world, however, does not offer such concise, accessible summaries of the status quo. We lack a giant white board which classifies friends and foes. We cannot glance at a map of the world and recognize how many hostile armies surround our borders or discern where every tenable resource lies. Nation-states do not have to portray the truth; as we learned through our respective objectives, there are moments when deception is a much more valuable strategy to employ than honesty. Fabrications (and the ability to perceive of others' fabrications) are essential to the security of both the state and its objective(s). For example, though the black team's objective emphasized the importance of alliances and peace, the black team still exploited the ability to twist the truth in order to achieve its aim.

The achievement of state goals constitutes winning in the real world; this appears similar to the objective of Risk. Yet as Professor Jackson expressed in class, the aftermath of state action within the actual global community includes more than the movement of pieces of plastic across a board. A state cannot simply roll a pair of dice in order to defeat an opponent or gain additional resources. There are social, political, and economic repercussions to every single policy decision enacted by a government. Wars presage the death of soldiers and civilians, economic strain, political discontent or possible schism, and societal disquiet, whether it comes from likeminded warmongers or radical dissidents. Winning in the real world is not exclusively about the changes in territorial labeling. Domestic and foreign accountability plays a major role; a state's action today is not erased away in memory because of a new playing round. Human beings cling to history because we like to believe it helps us predict or even create our future. A state can only win in the real world if it recognizes this strategy. To win, a nation-state must be mindful of its objectives and how it can achieve them by causing the most negligible disturbance possible. Careful calculation results in a carefully crafted image both at home and abroad, and image is paramount in a world where people constantly seek neat and tidy definitions for the complex workings of the world, especially when we lack the organization of a game of Risk.