Understanding the performance of discretion at the Polish-German border through the lens of emotional labour

This study investigates the role of emotional labour in the discretionary practices of Polish Border Guards operating along the Polish-German border – an interface where global migration regimes intersect with national ideologies. Amid Poland's increasingly nationalist stance on migration, Border Guards face complex social and institutional pressures, continually navigating personal biases, professional norms, and societal expectations. Drawing on ethnographic methods, including participant observation, field notes, and semi-structured interviews, the research explores how officers manage emotions such as empathy, detachment, and authority, and how these affect their discretionary decision-making during encounters with migrants. The findings reveal that both discretion and emotional labour in border policing are profoundly shaped by cultural and institutional contexts. Polish officers often perform discretion through assertive or emotionally detached behaviours, moulded by organizational norms and dominant narratives around ‘Polishness’. This alignment between individual predispositions and institutional ideology enables officers to rationalize aggressive or exclusionary practices, which are frequently reinforced by informal reward structures privileging assertiveness over procedural impartiality. The study argues that Polish Border Guards engage in a form of ‘emotional governance’, wherein emotional regulation becomes a tool for enacting nationalist agendas. This fusion of emotional labour and discretionary authority reflects broader dynamics at the EU's external borders, where local ideologies may conflict with EU principles of free movement and humane treatment. Ultimately, the research calls for further comparative analysis of emotional labour and discretion in border control across diverse cultural contexts, highlighting implications for policy harmonization within the Schengen framework.