Did you know that socialists don't understand capitalism? Well, nationalists don't understand diplomacy either. Socialists believe their country has absolute power domestically, while nationalists believe their country has absolute power globally, and therefore can seize anything they want by force because it's so powerful that nothing can happen and no one can resist. Both worldviews are flawed, for similar reasons. Socialists hate capitalists to the core, and nationalists hate foreigners to the core, often to the point that they are blinded by hatred. They begin to believe that as long as maximum force is used, foreign groups are no threat and are useless. Sometimes, this mentality takes them exceptionally far! The extent to which they plunder or conquer far exceeds your imagination. But ultimately, they will encounter constraints. By the way: Imperialist nationalists and self-sufficient nationalists do exist. Imperialists want to conquer other countries, while self-sufficient nationalists want nothing to do with them. Both actually have their logic and fallacies. The logic of imperialism is that, like any enterprise, it will decline if it doesn't develop. But it also has a fallacy: the fallacy of excessive imperial expansion. Similarly, the logic of self-sufficiency is that self-reliance is a good thing. Its fallacy lies in the fact that when self-sufficiency goes to extremes, it negates the inherent division of labor in capitalism, or the idea of learning from others. Generally speaking, it's best to think of these political paradigms as programming paradigms. Just as sometimes a recursive approach is needed instead of an imperative approach, sometimes a self-sufficient approach is needed. But you don't need to define yourself as a recursor or a self-sufficient individual. Just use the best tools. Theoretically, there is a third path, neither expansionism nor self-sufficiency. That is to be a "normal" nation, trading with other nations, neither conquering nor hating them! However, in practice, this is not the case. This means you are either part of an empire or you are independent enough to survive outside of it.