The Politics of Border Walls in Hungary, Georgia and Israel Gela Merabishvili Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Planning, Governance and Globalization Gerard Toal Giselle Datz Joel Peters Susan Allen 22 September 2020 Arlington, VA Keywords: Borders, Nationalism, Security, Geopolitics, Hungary, Israel, Georgia Copyright 2020 Gela Merabishvili The Politics of Border Walls in Hungary, Georgia and Israel Gela Merabishvili ABSTRACT Politicians justify border walls by arguing that it would protect the nation from outside threats, such as immigration or terrorism. The literature on border walls has identified xenophobic nationalism’s centrality in framing border walls as a security measure. Yet, alternative geographic visions of nationhood in Hungary, Georgia and Israel define the fenced perimeters in these countries as the lines that divide the nation and its territory. These cases illustrate the contradiction between the geography of security, marked by the border wall, and the geography of nationhood, which extends beyond the fenced boundary. These cases allow us to problematize the link between “security” and “nationalism” and their relationship with borders. Therefore, this dissertation is a study of the politics of reconciling distinct geopolitical visions of security and nationhood in the making of border walls. Justification of border walls requires the reframing of the national territory in line with the geography articulated by border security and away from the spatially expanded vision of nationhood. A successful reframing of the nation’s geography is a matter of politicians’ skills to craft a convincing geopolitical storyline in favor of the border wall that would combine security and nationalist arguments (Hungary). However, even the most skillful rhetoricians will find it hard to create such a discursive story if the hegemonic geography of nationhood has firmly fixed the meaning of the fenced line not as a border but as a dividing line across the nation’s geo-body (Georgia). Where such hegemonic geography of nationhood is absent and the society disagrees over the meaning, shape and location of borders and territory, a security discourse in favor of the border wall would sway the public opinion towards that type of territorial conception of nationhood, which overlaps with the promise of protection (Israel). The Politics of Border Walls in Hungary, Georgia and Israel Gela Merabishvili GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT Politicians justify border walls by arguing that it would protect the nation from outside threats, such as immigration or terrorism. This study shows that the new border walls do not necessarily mean the rise of nationalism. Instead, the nationalism associated with border walls has sidelined and replaced other forms of nationalism that aim to keep the border open and expand the state’s reach beyond the sovereign boundaries. In Hungary, Georgia and Israel, new border walls serve the purpose of security. Simultaneously, they separate the country from the areas beyond the fenced line but are considered part of the national territory. This study accounts for the political process that aims to reconcile these territorial contradictions between the quest for border security and the nationalist desire to maintain power beyond the border wall. The study has found that such a dual functioning of the borders has been possible in Hungary and Israel. In contrast, in Georgia, the fence remains a deeply negative symbol of the nation’s territorial division. Table of Contents 1. Introduction_______________________________________________________________________________ 1 2. Theory & Methods__________________________________________________________________________6 2.1 Theory_________________________________________________________________________________ 6 2.2 Concepts______________________________________________________________________________ 10 2.3 Case Selection__________________________________________________________________________16 2.4 Methods_______________________________________________________________________________17 Discourse-Analytical Approach to the Study of Politics__________________________________________ 17 Genealogy______________________________________________________________________________18 Discursive-Argumentative Analysis_________________________________________________________ 19 Discourse-Material Analysis_______________________________________________________________ 21 2.5 Data Collection_________________________________________________________________________ 22 3. Hungary’s Southern Border Fence___________________________________________________________ 24 3.1 Introduction____________________________________________________________________________24 3.2 Genealogy of Border_____________________________________________________________________27 Introduction____________________________________________________________________________ 27 Transborder Nationhood from Trianon to Schengen_____________________________________________ 28 Transborder Political Community___________________________________________________________ 35 Border Security_________________________________________________________________________ 41 Conclusion_____________________________________________________________________________ 45 3.3 Politics of Fence________________________________________________________________________ 46 Introduction____________________________________________________________________________ 46 Immigration and the Border: The Emergence of a Political Problem (January-June 2015)_______________ 47 Crafting a Storyline: Danger, Nationhood and the Border Fence (May-July 2015)_____________________ 52 Border Closure/Problem Closure: Rampart Nationhood (September 2015)___________________________ 62 Conclusion_____________________________________________________________________________ 69 3.4 Border Materiality______________________________________________________________________ 70 Introduction____________________________________________________________________________ 70 Border Repertoires_______________________________________________________________________ 71 Transborder Nationhood Materialized________________________________________________________ 74 Sovereignty Materialized__________________________________________________________________ 77 Rampart Nationhood Materialized___________________________________________________________81 Conclusion_____________________________________________________________________________ 84 3.5 Conclusion____________________________________________________________________________ 87 4. Borderization in Georgia____________________________________________________________________91 4.1 Introduction____________________________________________________________________________91 4.2 Genealogy of Border_____________________________________________________________________93 Introduction____________________________________________________________________________ 93 iv Ethno-territorial Border (1989-1992)_________________________________________________________93 Frontier of Statehood and Nationhood (2004-2008)_____________________________________________ 98 The Birth of Borderization (2008-2012)_____________________________________________________ 103 Conclusion____________________________________________________________________________ 109 4.3 Politics of Fence_______________________________________________________________________ 111 Introduction___________________________________________________________________________ 111 “Creeping Occupation” and “Provocation”: The Emerging Storylines of Borderization (2013)__________ 111 “Creeping Annexation” (2014)____________________________________________________________ 119 Consolidation of the Borderization Storylines (2015)___________________________________________ 122 Conclusion____________________________________________________________________________ 125 4.4 Border Materiality_____________________________________________________________________ 127 Introduction___________________________________________________________________________ 127 Creeping Insecurity_____________________________________________________________________ 127 Managing Insecurity & Reproducing Borderization____________________________________________ 130 Bordered Identities and Peripheral Affects: Alternative Meanings of Borderization___________________ 135 The “In-Betweeners”____________________________________________________________________ 140 Conclusion____________________________________________________________________________ 143 4.5 Conclusion___________________________________________________________________________ 144 5. Israel’s Security Fence_____________________________________________________________________147 5.1 Introduction___________________________________________________________________________147 5.2 Genealogy of Border____________________________________________________________________149 Introduction___________________________________________________________________________ 149 Partition (1937-1949)____________________________________________________________________ 150 Occupation (1967-1977)_________________________________________________________________ 154 Separation (1992-2000)__________________________________________________________________ 159 Conclusion____________________________________________________________________________