Mexico is in a violent struggle for existence. Powerful Mexican drug cartels use narco-terrorism to undermine Mexican efforts to reform governance and reestablish internal security. The violence routinely affects U.S. border cities and threatens to expand to broader U.S. areas. The U.S. and Mexico relationship has significantly improved over the past few years; however, the U.S. still neglects Mexico choosing to put a higher priority on addressing other issues outside of North America. Mexico is a first line of defense for the U.S. against crime, drugs, terrorism, arms trafficking, and human trafficking. In the midst of a massive Mexican offensive against the drug cartels, Mexico faces the very real possibility of failing as a state. Mexico is at the edge of a transformational period, politically. The U.S. has a vested interest in supporting Mexican efforts to improve security and economic prosperity. The U.S. must continue broad interagency support of Mexico by continuing to expand on current programs such as the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative. U.S. failure to recognize the severity of the Mexican situation and take aggressive steps to assist the Mexican government, could contribute to a failed Mexican state and ultimately impact U.S. National Security.

An unfettered, probing dialogue between Mexican and American political analysts on the complex relationship between their countries. Few nations are as closely interrelated as the United States and Mexico. Few relationships between nations are so prickly. America's inveterate problem-solving strikes Mexicans as clandestine imperialism. Mexicans are accused of ignoring the flow of drugs through their country; Americans are accused of saddling Mexico with their drug problem. Americans brood over the influx of Mexican immigrants; Mexicans worry that their culture and traditions are being diluted from the north. These differences are now aired−and their origins made clear−in this landmark book by a former official in the Carter administration and one of Mexico's most respected political scholars. In alternating chapters on foreign policy, economic relations, immigration, and social influence, Robert A. Pastor and JorgeC. Castañeda offer a multifaceted view of the ties and conflicts between their countries.

By sharing one of the longest land borders in the world, the United States and Mexico will always have a special relationship. In the early twenty-first century, they are as important to one another as ever before with a vital trade partnership and often-tense migration positions. The ideal introduction to U.S.-Mexican relations, this book moves from conflicts all through the nineteenth century up to contemporary democratic elections in Mexico. Domínguez and Fernández de Castro deftly trace the path of the relationship between these North American neighbors from bloody conflicts to (wary) partnership. By covering immigration, drug trafficking, NAFTA, democracy, environmental problems, and economic instability, the second edition of The United States and Mexico provides a thorough look back and an informed vision of the future.

U.S. and Mexican political, social, and economic relationships.