Power, Identity, and Special Relationships: The US-Canada and US-Mexico Relationships in Historical and Comparative Perspective
How does the United States relate to the West? We tend, in the IR literature, to think about it in terms of the “ordering” of the West: Is it a civilization, an empire, a strategic bargain, a security community, or something else? Will the West hold together or break apart, and — putting the same question in a different form — can the United States continue to exercise leadership of the West? Much of our thinking about these questions is based on the assumptions that there is a coherent, singular West, and that the US relates to that western community in a coherent, singular way. But as Peter Katzenstein has argued, the West is both plural and pluralist, and the United States “fits” into the West in a variety of different ways, revealing many different sides of itself in the process. We begin here with the expectation that closer, comparative examination of the way that the US relates to specific partners can help us to untangle some of these complexities and contradictions.
NAFTA and Democratization in Mexico
Can the Mexican political regime survive free elections in the NAFTA era? Will the combination of the January 1994 Zapatista uprising, the widespread cry for true political reform throughout the country and the increased international scrutiny of Mexico be enough to fuel a real transition to democracy? These are some of the questions being raised as the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) 65-year-old regime is under unprecedented pressure to discontinue its vote-rigging practices and deliver on its pledge of fair play for the presidential elections of 21 August 1994. At stake is whether the election process and the votes themselves will be credible and legitimate in the eyes of Mexican citizens for the first time since 1911. Analysts have already stated that the regime that was born with the 1928 homicide of president-elect Alvaro Obregon has passed away with the 23 March assassination of PRI presidential hopeful Luis Donaldo Colosio.(2) The Mexican political system cannot be considered democratic. It has operated largely as a centralized, corporatist, one-party state with an extremely powerful presidency and subordinate legislative and judiciary branches of power. While the PRI and the government maintain that democracy in Mexico needs to be perfected and improved, most of the political opposition and citizen groups believe that reforming the existing structure will only suffice if the official party is clearly separated from the government. The PRI always has been both party and judge in the Mexican elections, and the government has been more interested in perpetuating PRI rule than in guaranteeing equitable conditions for electoral competition. This essay will describe how Mexican civil actors view the link between the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the fight to establish a democratic process in Mexico. It will argue that the activism of civil groups has resulted in significant steps toward democracy in Mexico, including a stronger voice for citizens in determining public policy. It will also focus on the implications of international citizen networking on Mexican trade policy and democratization. Finally, it will assess how these developments have changed the relationship between the PRI regime and the increasingly active civil movements. NAFTA had unintended -- and, for Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, unexpected -- effects that have made democratization in Mexico imperative. The NAFTA process has put Mexico under increased scrutiny, giving international exposure to Mexican civil groups and ultimately increasing their domestic influence. The battle over NAFTA shed light on the authoritarian nature of the Mexican regime, legitimizing the claims of critical voices inside and outside Mexico that the pattern of economic globalization embodied by NAFTA would exacerbate social polarization and work against the poor, undermining the process of democratization. Furthermore, Salinas's successor will take office in the wake of the Zapatista uprising for justice and democracy, which, contrary to what the damage-control operation of the Salinas administration has maintained, was not against progress, but about who defines it and how to shape it. Thus, the anti-establishment, supranational grassroots movement that NAFTA has unleashed has served as a catalyst for true democratization in Mexico. THE TRADE-OFF BETWEEN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL REFORM In December 1988, upon taking office amid widespread allegations of election fraud, Salinas set out to achieve two main economic goals: sustained economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. Although a trade agreement with the United States was not in the government's plan at the time, deepening economic liberalization was consistent with the structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. An agreement such as NAFTA, it was thought, would stimulate domestic private investment and attract foreign investors, fueling the engine of renewed economic growth after six years of stagnation under Miguel de la Madrid, Salinas's predecessor. …
Developers of the hepatitis B vaccine.
air at VA facilities, one of the many pieces of unfinished business beyond those major issues that we discussed in our Commentary. We agree that all facilities where current and past military personnel serve and receive treatment should be 100% smoke-free and note the recent Institute of Medicine report Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations. The report, which was commissioned by the Department of Defense (DOD) in 2007, calls for the DOD to set a timeline to eliminate smoking on military installations. The report also recommends that the DOD stop selling tobacco products in military commissaries and exchanges, prohibit tobacco use anywhere on military installations, and treat tobacco use in the same way as other health-related behaviors, such as alcohol abuse and poor physical fitness. We join Matthews and the Institute of Medicine in urging the VA and the DOD to take more immediate steps to protect the health of the men and women who serve in the armed services, as well as the civilians (such as Dr Matthews) working to serve them.