The Wealth/Personnel thing is likely to assist in dictating the pacing of people's expansion and PvP hijinks, while the RP aspect exists in part to ensure that Wealth and Personnel alone does not become the sole reason why you're 'winning' the RP.
Mmm, so in that case, it'd be possible for you to defend your own territory while also attacking to expand elsewhere, ye? Or you could be in situations where you're both attacking/defending each other's districts?