Bordering on Discontent: The Political Consequences of Border Liberalization

In the aftermath of globalization, Western democracies have witnessed a surge in political disaffection and radical-right support. While economic and migration shocks have been widely studied, the political effects of border liberalization remain underexplored. This paper theorizes and tests how increased border permeability can generate political discontent, even without necessarily affecting immigration or direct economic competition. We argue that open borders enable brief, routine interactions between groups across historically closed frontiers. When this occurs between regions of unequal perceived status, it can erode symbolic boundaries and foster resentment. We examine this in the context of the German--Czech border, which transformed from a militarized Cold War frontier to an internal EU border. Leveraging two moments of liberalization---the fall of the Iron Curtain (1989) and Czech EU accession (2004)---we apply difference-in-differences and event study designs using municipality-level data from Bavaria. Border liberalization led to a drop in turnout (around 2 pp) and a rise in radical-right support (around 1 pp). This findings have implications on the determinants of backlash against globalization.