In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

1 introDuction Big Picture Realities in a Post-NAFTA Era Daniel Drache North America Transformed The attentive reader will discover that the primary concept behind this collection refers to the dramatic sea changes in the political-economic order of North America. Ideally, every government wants to manage these big picture realities rather than be managed by them. Public authority has to be focused in order not to be blind-sided. At present, leading, pace-setting institutions such as the labour market, education, and health systems are being required to change and adapt to the new power dynamics triggered by the deep-seeded reorganization of the system of production, wealth creation, new citizenship practices, and public expectations (Hollingsworth and Boyer 1997). In a way that no expert has predicted, these forceful expressions of national interest and domestic priorities have reappeared as the new and authoritative agenda-setting priorities for all three signatories of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).1 Canada and Mexico are highly differentiated societies that need to come to terms with the cumulative and contradictory effects of these micro and macro changes. If, in the 1990s, the contour of North America was organized around a grand commercial project driven by neo-liberal deregulation and deep market access, in this new century, security and immigration have overtaken the once seemingly unstoppable dynamic of NAFTA as the driver of the North American community (Randall and Konrad 1992). Many, if not all, of these changes are breathtaking in their consequences. At one time, Canada boasted of having the world’s longest undefended border. Today, the great northern and southern borders are militarized and securitized to an unprecedented degree. In 2006, President George W. Bush authorized the stationing of more than two thousand troops to guard the US side of the border along the forty-ninth parallel. On the southern border, twenty thousand US troops have been put on duty on the US side of the Rio Grande. The centrepiece of the Bush administration has been to create a North American 2 Daniel Drache security perimeter with a singular focus on protecting US sovereignty. Border security is the high-maintenance public policy that cuts across the length and breadth of US government departments (Susskind 2007). Responsibility for North American continental security lies with the super-sized US Department of Homeland Security with its budget of more than one hundred and fifty billion dollars annually and its vast and intrusive reach across the length and breadth of the US government. Support for the US security-first border has transformed the institutional dynamics of the continent, arguably forever (Haglund 2003). Its vast program for the inspection of every passenger vehicle, truck, ship, and plane that enters the United States has no precedent. US authority must monitor , verify, and screen the vast transmovement of people between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. With over three hundred and fifty million annual cross-border visits between the NAFTA partners, the task is daunting, if not next to impossible, to carry out with one hundred percent effectiveness (Canada 2007). According to the US government’s Accountability Office, many of the problems undermining US security efforts have developed at home. Budget cuts have led to the serious under-staffing of US border agents and poor training for border officials (Blumenthal 2007). As of November 2007, more than seventy-five thousand names were included on the US no-fly list (Hall 2007). Yet, there have been so many errors made that in 2006 more than fifteen thousand people appealed to the Department of Homeland Security to have their names cleared. The backlog of complaints is growing faster than names can be removed (Hall 2007). Stepping Up to the Plate Canadian governments have not been idle or passive spectators to the world of homeland security. They were quick off the mark to legislate a made-in-Canada security policy after 9/11. Canada’s security-first border has been transformed beyond recognition over the last seven years. Both Liberal and Conservative governments have spent more than ten billion dollars upgrading, enhancing, and securitizing Canada’s intelligence and security capacity. The activity on securing the border has been intense and unprecedented (Canada 2006). Customs officials have been given new responsibilities and, for the first time in Canadian history, are armed. Passengers arriving by air, sea, and rail are required to show a valid passport. Yet, by far the greatest change has come for Canadians and Americans who cross the border. As...

Share