This volume investigates the security issues confronting Mexico and Canada in a post-9/11 North America, including the evolution of NAFTA and the emerging North American security context and its implications.

North American relations have undergone profound changes over the last 15 years. NAFTA not only created the biggest trading bloc in the world; it was also a catalyst in the conceptualization of the continent as an integrated region. Whereas, prior to 9/11 relations remained primarily at the economic level, the attacks on the U.S. unleashed a new dynamic in North American relations that has seen a significant increase in cooperation in a large number of areas, including security. It remains to be seen whether a new security perimeter encompassing the three countries will emerge. But momentum toward greater collaboration and further integration appears to be afoot. Because of the enormous economic dependence on their mutual neighbour, both Canada and Mexico will need to cooperate with the U .S. on security matters given its importance since 9/11. Ongoing analysis of the evolution of security relations in North America and the impact on Mexico and Canada will therefore not only be likely to continue, but will be necessary. This book aims to contribute to this endeavour.

The U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders are the two busiest land crossings in the world. Canada and the United States are each other's largest trading partners and Mexico is America's second largest trading partner with trade between the two nations more than tripling since the start of NAFTA. The many immediate ripple effects of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon included a dramatic tightening of North American border controls and a hardening of the policy discourse about cross-border flows. This is the first book that explores the implications of September 11th and the new war on terrorism for border controls, cross-border relations, and economic integration in North America. The volume makes a unique contribution to important scholarly and policy discussions over the meaning and management of borders in an increasingly borderless (regional and global) economy, and adds fuel to broader debates over the changing nature of borders and territorial politics in a radically transformed security environment.

In the post-NAFTA era, Canada and Mexico face dramatic and irreversible changes from the Bush revolution in foreign public policy, the rising economic power of China and India, new concerns about border security and human rights, and the trends of economic integration. The essays in Big Picture Realities: Canada and Mexico at the Crossroads address the sea change in the political economic order of North America and chronicle the attempts of Canada and Mexico, two very different societies, to come to terms with the accumulated and often contradictory effects of micro and macro changes. Contributors are Canadian and Mexican scholars and leading authorities in security, immigration, human rights, foreign policy, Canada-Mexico relations, and market integration. This book is particularly valuable for public policy experts and scholars and students in international relations.

Following the acclaimed Uncle Sam and Us and the influential Does North America Exist? Stephen Clarkson — the preeminent analyst of North America's political economy — and Matto Mildenberger turn continental scholarship on its head by showing how Canada and Mexico contribute to the United States' wealth, security, and global power. This provocative work documents how Canada and Mexico offer the United States open markets for its investments and exports, massive flows of skilled and unskilled labour, and vast resource inputs— all of which boost its size and competitiveness — more than does any other US partner. They are also Uncle Sam's most important allies in supporting its anti-terrorist and anti-narcotics security. Clarkson and Mildenberger explain the paradox of these two countries' simultaneous importance and powerlessness by showing how the US government has systematically neutralized their potential influence. Detailing the dynamics of North America's power relations, Dependent America? is a fitting conclusion to Clarkson's celebrated trilogy on the contradictory qualities of its regionalism — asymmetrical economic integration, thickened borders, and emasculated governance.

To what extent are Canada and Mexico "natural allies" in continental and world affairs? How will this relationship unfold in terms of security issues in the aftermath of the Cold War? These questions were the focus of a workshop held in Mexico City in 1994 from which this book took its themes: historical context, American influence, and potential cooperative security options. A process of redefining "security" concerns in a changing hemisphere is clearly underway, and Natural Allies? examines economic factors, drug trafficking, questions of autonomy and strategic alliance, and defence priorities as intersecting interests in the Canada-Mexico dialogue. This is volume two in CHANGING AMERICAS, a series published in collaboration with the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL).

This CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report, North America: Time for a New Focus, asserts that elevating and prioritizing the U.S.-Canada-Mexico relationship offers the best opportunity for strengthening the United States and its place in the world.