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 one nation from other nations. 

Nations profoundly fear penetration. The idea of being penetrated by other nations evokes anxiety and rage.

Politics revolves around the maintenance of boundaries: thou shalt not be fucked by another nation. National security means excluding not-self others. Secure borders are constructed and maintained to assure that that alien others cannot enter the national body.

“Enemies” and statehood are two sides of the same coin.  A nation defines itself by defining its enemies--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.” Symbolic walls (and real ones) are the essence of nation-states. "Security" consists of preventing "others" from penetrating the national boundary. The enemy gives rise to the boundary and a preoccupation with 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 or symbolize the integrity of a 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 a body politic. Individuals project their own bodies into the external world. Or the idea of the nation is internalized into our bodies.

Threats to the nation are experienced as penetration of one's body. Anal rape.

Richard Koenigsberg