The Mexicanization of the US-Canada Border
| Author | Peter Andreas |
| Published date | 01 June 2005 |
| Date | 01 June 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200506000214 |
| Subject Matter | Across the Border |
Peter Andreas
The Mexicanization
of
the
US-Canada
border
Asymmetric
interdependence
in a
changing
security
context
INTRODUCTION
It
is perhaps paradoxical that the prominence of borders and border con-
trols in North America has sharply increased in an era otherwise defined by
the breaking down of borders through continental economic integration.
Indeed, borders and border control politics define the relations between the
NAFTA
(North American free trade agreement) partners.' What began as
US
drug
and immigration control anxieties, mostly focused southward,
have now been extended northward, as US border security worries have
shifted
in the
post-9/11
era to focus on the potential entry of terrorists and
weapons of mass destruction. The result, I argue, has been a partial
"Mexicanization"
of the US-Canada border and cross-border relations. In
the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, Canada has experienced the kind of
intense US political scrutiny and alarmed media attention that has long
been
familiar to
Mexico.
The politicization of the border has unsettled the
traditional special US-Canada relationship and brought to an end what had
Peter
Andreas
is
assistant
professor
of
political
science
and
international
studies
at
Brown
University.
1
For a recent account, see Peter Andreas and Thomas
J.
Biersteker, eds., The
Rebordering
of
North
America:
Integration
and
Exclusion
in a New
Security
Context
(New
York:
Routledge,
2003).
Also,
see David G. Haglund's
thoughtful
analysis,
"North
American cooperation in an
era
of homeland security,"
Orbis
(Fall
2003):675-ç)i.
I
International
Journal | Spring
2005
| 449 |
To continue reading
Request your trial