The controversial pivot: the US Congress & North America

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Studies 2000, Vol.25 (49), p.97
• Main Authors: Healy, Teresa, Pastor, Robert A, Fernandez de Castro, Rafael
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Subjects: Free trade & protection; Negotiation; Politics; Politics & government
• ISSN: 0826-3663; 2333-1461

Mexico and the NAFTA Environment Debate is a very well-researched and strongly executed investigation into the impact of transnationalization in Mexico. Transnationalization, defined as "external influence on domestic processes" (p. 13) is seen in the cross-border activities of state and non-state actors and the extent to which external interests influence dominant ideas surrounding policy-making. Using the debate over environmental issues that took place while the North American Free Trade Agreement was being negotiated, Hogenboom argues that Mexico's environmental politics and policy became increasingly influenced by external forces in the early 1990s. As a result, Hogenboom suggests, certain improvements to environmental protection were made. Nevertheless, the lack of democracy within the Mexican political system limits the extent to which Mexicans will be able to "assume their own responsibility for the environment" (p. 248). These points are argued convincingly. Because the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) "has simply not moved quickly enough" (p. 2) on trade and investment liberalization, Wise argues, regional agreements became necessary by the early 1990s. Holding fast to the assumptions of (liberal) economic theory, Wise does not acknowledge the significance of political opposition in either the multilateral (WTO), bilateral (Canada-US Free Trade Agreement) or trilateral (NAFTA) context, suggesting instead that North American opposition to NAFTA was "counter-intuitive" (p. 12) or simply a "gut-reaction" (p. 19) based on "free floating economic theories"(p. 19). She appears to echo the Bush administration's surprise at encountering the opposition that came "out of nowhere" (p. 18). Wise concedes that "special interests" (p. 23) have inserted themselves into the former preserve of inter-state relations, but resolves this dilemma within her realist framework by suggesting that the real question turns on the proper management of the new trade and investment regime reminiscent of Pastor and Fernandez de Castro's concern with the ongoing institutionalization of NAFTA.