The North American idea : a vision of a continental future /

The North American idea : a vision of a continental future /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Pastor, Robert A.
Imprint:Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, USA, c2011.
Description:xix, 264 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Language:English
Subject:
North American Free Trade Agreement. -- (1992 October 7)
North American Free Trade Agreement (1992 December 17)
Free trade -- North America.
Free trade.
International economic integration.
North America -- Economic integration.
North America.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8456946
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780199782413 (hardback : acid-free paper)
0199782415 (hardback acid-free paper)
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:"In its first seven years, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tripled trade and quintupled foreign investment among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, increasing its share of the world economy. In 2001, however, North America peaked. Since then, trade has slowed among the three, manufacturing has shrunk, and illegal migration and drug-related violence have soared. At the same time, Europe caught up, and China leaped ahead. In The North American Idea, eminent scholar and policymaker Robert A. Pastor explains that NAFTA's mandate was too limited to address the new North American agenda. Instead of offering bold initiatives like a customs union to expand trade, leaders of the three nations thought small. Interest groups stalemated the small ideas while inhibiting the bolder proposals, and the governments accomplished almost nothing. To overcome this resistance and reinvigorate the continent, the leaders need to start with an idea based on a principle of interdependence. Pastor shows how this idea--once woven into the national consciousness of the three countries--could mobilize public support for continental solutions to problems like infrastructure and immigration that have confounded each nation working on its own. Providing essential historical context and challenging readers to view the continent in a new way, The North American Idea combines an expansive vision with a detailed blueprint for a more integrated, dynamic, and equitable North America"--Provided by publisher.
"In The North American Idea, eminent scholar and policy-maker Robert A. Pastor dissects the failure of NAFTA and argues that, to re-invigorate North America's economy, our leaders need to start with an idea based on a principle of interdependence. If one country fails, all three are harmed, and if one grows, they all benefit. Drawing on first-hand experience as a policy-maker and analyst, Pastor shows how this idea--once woven into the national consciousness of the three countries--could mobilize public support for continental solutions to problems that have confounded each nation working on its own"--Provided by publisher.
Table of Contents:
  • Figures and Tables
  • Preface: Memoir of a North Americanist
  • Acknowledgments
  • Part I. Should We Fear North America?
  • 1. A Piñata for Pandering Pundits and Politicians
  • The Hopes and Fears of NAFTA
  • Is Sovereignty at Risk?
  • The Emergence of North America
  • The Decline of North America
  • Recovering the Promise
  • 2. The Genetic Code of North America
  • Divine and Planetary Intervention
  • The Arrival of Humans and the Naming of a Continent
  • The Great Encounter
  • National Codes
  • The North American Code
  • 3. Who Speaks for North America?
  • Do We Hate Each Other?
  • Are Our Values Converging or Diverging?
  • How Do We View NAFTA and Free Trade?
  • Is There a North American Identity?
  • Should the Three Countries Deepen Their Relationship?
  • A Cooperative Public and Timid Leaders: Explaining the Puzzle
  • Part II. Trespassing
  • 4. Transcending the Borders
  • Old Borders and New Faces
  • North American Food
  • North America's Business
  • The Market for Energy and Climate Change
  • Illicit Markets
  • The Virtual Border
  • 5. Speed Bumps, Potholes, and Roadblocks on the North American Superhighway
  • Inevitable and Irreversible, But That Could Change
  • Speed Bumps
  • Potholes
  • Roadblocks and Walls
  • Hidden Tolls
  • The Third Law of Motion
  • Part III. The North American Advantage
  • 6. A North American Community: A Vision
  • Short-Sighted or Far-Sighted?
  • Why Has a North American Community Been Elusive?
  • What's In It for Us?
  • From a Bilateral to a Continental Agenda
  • 7. New Policies for North America's Twenty-First Century: A Blueprint
  • The North American Economy
  • National and Public Security
  • The Transnational Transformation
  • The Institutional Black Hole
  • The Costs and Benefits of Action and Inaction
  • ôWith a shift of the mind's eyeö
  • Appendix: Additional Tables and Figures on North America
  • Notes
  • Bibliography on North America
  • Index
Purchased from the Charles W. Boand Fund for Business and Economics bookplate

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