Road Signs on the Border

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-397
Author(s):  
Lee Rodney
Keyword(s):  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Road Signs ◽  
The North ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
American Media ◽  
San Ysidro

This article considers the political impact of a series of billboards that appeared at the Windsor–Detroit border and the Tijuana–San Ysidro border between 1991 and 2007. While there is a significant asymmetry between the political tensions on the northern and southern borders of the United States, there are remarkable parallels and relays between events that have taken place in major cities on these borders that indicate that generalized border anxiety has spread far beyond the localized territory of the southern borderlands. In this heightened climate of border insecurity, artists and community groups have seized on the geopolitical confusion that has emerged in mainstream American media where issues such as terrorism and illegal migration have often been folded into the same discourse. While border regions are tightly controlled spaces, these projects have served to highlight contradictory narratives of globalization and security, unmasking national insecurities that have been submerged through the bureaucratic discourses of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the more recent Smart Border agreements.

The Political Impact of NAFTA on Mexico: Reflections on the Political Economy of Democratization

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell A. Cameron ◽  
Carol Wise
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
The North ◽  
Political Impact

At the time of the decision to negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), advocates argued that closer integration with Canada and the United States would have a democratizing influence on Mexico's political regime (Baer and Weintraub, 1994: 174–79; Pastor, 1993: 67). Critics of the deal suggested just the opposite, insisting that NAFTA might perpetuate or even reinvigorate authoritarian rule (Aguilar Zinser, 1993: 203–15; Castañeda 1996). With the breakthrough elections of July 2000 and the transfer of executive power to an opposition party the — PAN, or National Action Party — it is timely to ask: were the advocates of NAFTA right all along? Was NAFTA the impetus for Mexico's long overdue transition to democracy?

scholarly journals The Reshaping of Mexican Labor Exports under NAFTA: Paradoxes and Challenges

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 656-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raúl Delgado-Wise ◽  
Humberto Márquez Covarrubias
Keyword(s):  
Labor Migration ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mexican Migrants ◽  
The North ◽  
Restructuring Process ◽  
The U.S

From the perspective of the political economy of development, this article analyzes the role played by Mexican labor in the U.S. productive restructuring process under the aegis of the North American Free Trade Agreement. By conceptualizing the labor export–led model it dissects three basic mechanisms of regional economic integration: maquiladoras, disguised maquilas, and labor migration. Not only does this analytical framework cast light on the contributions made by Mexican migrants to the economies of the United States and Mexico, it also reveals two paradoxes: the broadening of the socioeconomic asymmetries between the two countries, and increased socioeconomic dependence on remittances in Mexico.

scholarly journals Academic Free Trade? One Canadian's View of the MLA

PMLA ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Hutcheon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
North American ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Red Maple ◽  
The North

In 1988, in the midst of the often acrimonious debates about the North American Free Trade Agreement, a button began to appear on Canadian lapels. It featured a section of the Stars and Stripes with a red maple leaf in the place of one star, and a caption read, “No, eh.” Through this image, the anti-free-trade side offered parodic resistance to what it saw as the assimilation—not to say wholesale economic engulfing—of Canada by the United States. Typically self-deprecatory, Canadian humor demanded that the rejection be couched in a gentle mocking of the national verbal tic: eh? is the terser but less elegant Canadian version of the French n'est-ce pas? and the German nicht wahr? In some ways the intellectual equivalent of NAFTA, the MLA is much older than the economic institution and somewhat less controversial. Nevertheless, it too is not unproblematic for Canadians, and to see why and how, one needs to understand something of the political and cultural relations between a very small and a very large nation when they adjoin.

The Political Impact of Free Trade on Mexico

1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
North American ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Populorum Progressio

the rule of free trade, taken by itself, is no longer able to govern international relations … Freedom of trade is fair only if it is subject to the demands of social justice.Pope Paul VIPopulorum ProgressioCurrent Debates over North American free trade focus almost exclusively on economic issues. Advocates claim that a trilateral agreement will provide impetus for sustained, long-term economic growth in Canada, Mexico, and the United States — and that it will provide a regional counterweight to the European Community (EC) and to Japan. Critics in the United States claim that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will encourage the export of US investment and employment to Mexico. Canadians fear accelerated debilitation of vulnerable sectors of the national economy, from natural gas to automobile parts. Skeptics in Mexico predict that NAFTA will perpetuate low wages for the Mexican working class and transform the entire country into a massive maquiladora.

The political economy of international shipping: Europe versus America

1985 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan W. Cafruny
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Shipping ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The North ◽  
Political Challenge ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Theory Of Hegemonic Stability

The political challenge to the post-World War II order in shipping has been issued in the context of the North-South debate, but American power and interest are central to current developments. In the bulk and tanker sector the United States retains a strong interest in stability and successfully defends the existing order. In the liner sector, on the other hand, the United States has participated in recent assaults on the postwar order, producing great tension between Europe and America. There is a strong correlation between this growing maritime conflict and the political processes anticipated by the general theory of hegemonic stability. But “hegemony” and “power” are distinct concepts. Instability in international shipping arises neither from America's loss of power in shipping nor from challenges from Europe and the Third World. Rather, instability reflects American attempts to establish a closer identity between the existing regime and short-term national interest.

scholarly journals Quebec’s Economic and Commercial Linkages with the United States, 1994–2017

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl H. Fry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the ebb and flow of the Quebec government’s economic and commercial relations with the United States in the period 1994–2017. The topic demonstrates the impact of three major forces on Quebec’s economic and commercial ties with the US: (1) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which became operational in 1994 and was fully implemented over a 15-year period; (2) the onerous security policies put in place by the US government in the decade following the horrific events of 11 September 2001; and (3) changing economic circumstances in the United States ranging from robust growth to the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The article also indicates that the Quebec government continues to sponsor a wide range of activities in the United States, often more elaborate and extensive than comparable activities pursued by many nation-states with representation in the US. 1 1 Stéphane Paquin, ‘Quebec-U.S. Relations: The Big Picture’, American Review of Canadian Studies 46, no. 2 (2016): 149–61.

scholarly journals The Political Impact of Immigration: Evidence from the United States

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 358-389
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Mayda ◽  
Giovanni Peri ◽  
Walter Steingress
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Skilled Immigrants ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Indirect Impact ◽  
Political Effect ◽  
The Impact

This paper studies the impact of immigration to the United States on the vote share for the Republican Party using county-level data from 1990 to 2016. Our main contribution is to show that an increase in high-skilled immigrants decreases the share of Republican votes, while an inflow of low-skilled immigrants increases it. These effects are mainly due to the indirect impact on existing citizens’ votes, and this is independent of the origin country and race of immigrants. We find that the political effect of immigration is heterogeneous across counties and depends on their skill level, public spending, and noneconomic characteristics. (JEL D72, J15, J24, J61, R23)

scholarly journals Particularity of Canada-Mexico bilateral relations (from beginning to entry into force NAFTA Agreement)

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Oleh Bulka
Keyword(s):  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mutual Cooperation ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The North ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Organizational Mechanism ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the particularity of Canada-Mexico bilateral relations in the period from their beginning to signing and entry into force the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is noted that from the time of first contacts bilateral relations between two countries have developed unevenly with periods of increase and periods of decline. It is determined that in the history of Canada-Mexico relations before signing NAFTA can be identified four main periods. The first one is a period of early contacts that lasted from the end of XIX century to the establishment of the official diplomatic relations between Canada and Mexico in 1944. In this period of time ties between the two countries were extremely weak. The second period lasted from 1944 to the end of the 1960s. This period clearly shows the limits of cooperation between Canada and Mexico after the establishment of the official diplomatic ties, but it is also possible to see a certain coincidence between the values and diplomatic strategies of these countries. The third period of Canada-Mexico relations lasted from the beginning of the 1970s to the end of the 1980s. During this period, both Canada and Mexico try to diversify their foreign policy and strengthen the organizational mechanism of mutual cooperation. But it is also shown that despite the warm political rhetoric, there was some distance in Canada-Mexico relations. The fourth period of the relations lasted from the late 1980s until the NAFTA treaty came into force in 1994. At that time Canadian and Mexican governments began to give priority to economic relations over political and diplomatic ones. It was revealed that the main influencing factors of bilateral relations between Mexico and Canada were the impact of third countries, especially the United Kingdom and the United States, regional and global economic conditions, and the attitude to the bilateral relations of the political elites of both countries.

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