The Great Divide: The Challenge of U.S.-Mexico Relations in the 1990s

The authors, research associates at the Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center, an Albuquerque think tank, present a critical but dry assessment of the numerous issues confronting the U.S. and Mexico. Their first section repeats familiar stories about border life, describing migrants, drug-smuggling and maquiladoras (export-oriented assembly plants). Better is their account of the inevitable effects of cross-border pollution, and of how U.S. policy-makers co-opted environmentalist critics of NAFTA. Observing that Mexico's modernization has exacerbated inequality, the authors argue that trickle-down compacts like NAFTA must be accompanied by innovations that rebuild communities, defend workers, guard the environment and promote health. The U.S. and Mexico have moved closer in their official relations, but the authors note tartly that the U.S. does not fully respect Mexican sovereignty (especially concerning the drug war) and is not altogether committed to Mexican democratization. A brief conclusion reprises recommendations ranging from harmonization of wages and regulations to institutionalizing the roles of grass-roots groups already involved in cross-border relations. (May)