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Nations are defined by boundaries--separating self from others. A primary goals of a nation is...not to be penetrated. The idea of being penetrated evokes rage.

A nation resembles a human being possessing an immune system: alien invaders must be repelled before they perforate the exterior and enter into the interior of the body politic.

Ronnie Lipschutz (1998) observes that the logic of national security is “exclusionist.” National security means excluding others who are not the self. Nations draws boundaries to differentiate within from without. Secure borders mean identifying who the others are, and making sure they do not enter into the leader's body.

“Enemies” constitute the essence of statehood, defining “national security.” The enemy is the alien that cannot be allowed to penetrate. The boundary separates badness from goodness to protect the national self.

One’s own nation is defined as absolutely good. The enemy is defined as the essence of badness. What is bad is what does not belong within the boundaries of the nation. Enemies are entities that are not welcome: abandon hope all ye who enter here. 

Josefina Alvarez (2006) suggests that borders are the “walls of the edifice of the state, separating inside from outside.” Security discourses “name dangers;” define enemies. "Security" is required to prevent enemies from penetrating the national boundary. The enemy  gives rise to national security. 

According to Paul Kahn (2013), the figure of the enemy is constructed based on a perspective on territory: “The enemy penetrates the border.” The transgression of ”penetrating the border” makes someone an enemy even if he does relatively little and regardless of whether or not he damages public or private property.

Borders, Kahn says, represent the integrity of the state. The border becomes a geographical representation of national existence. A cross-border threat, regardless of how limited, motivates an extreme response. Since 9/11, Kahn says, the United States has been in a "frenzy of border protection."

Everything follows from the equation of one’s own body with the body politic. We may say that individuals project their bodies into the external world.  Or that individuals internalize the idea of the nation into  the self. 

Threats to the nation are experienced as penetration of one's own body. Nationalism is a psychosomatic phenomenon.