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  the maintenance of boundaries: thou shalt not be fucked.

National "security" involves excluding not-self others. Secure borders means making certain that aliens do not enter the national body. Or removing aliens already existing within the national body.

“Enemies” and statehood are two sides of the same coin.  A nation defines itself by when it identifies those that cannot be allowed to exist within the nation, or to penetrate the boundaries of one's nation..

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. Enemies gives rise to the imperative of 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, the United States has been in a "frenzy of border protection." 

Everything follows from this equation of one’s own body with a body politic. Individuals project their own bodies into the external world. Or the idea of one's nation is internalized into one's body.

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