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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. Fear of penetration is fear of rape. Hitler insisted that Germany had to "protect its rear" (against the danger of Great Britain invading from the left-hand side, and Russia from the right-hand side).

Ronnie Lipschutz (1998) observes that the logic of national security is “exclusionist.” National security means excluding others who are not the self. Nations draw 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. 

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.