The Psychoanalysis of Racism, Revolution and Nationalism. Click here for information on ordering the eBook. "A truly bold and provocative treatise." Political Psychology (Journal)

Nations are defined by boundaries--separating self from others. Nations fear penetration. The idea of being penetrated evokes rage. Politics revolves around maintenance of boundaries: thou shalt not be fucked.

Human beings conceive of nations as bodies possessing an immune systems: aliens must be repelled.

National "security" revolves around excluding not-self others. Secure borders means making certain that aliens do not enter the national body.

“Enemies” and statehood are two sides of the same coin.  A nation defines itself by defining those that cannot be allowed to penetrate.

Josefina Alvarez (2006) suggests that borders are the “walls of the edifice of the state, separating inside from outside.” 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 no harm.

Borders 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, Paul Kahn says, the United States has been in a "frenzy of border protection."

Everything follows from the equation of one’s own body with a body politic. Individuals project their own bodies into the external world.  Or shall we say that the idea of the nation is internalized into our bodies.

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