Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Notes on contributors
- ‘Regions’ and their study: wherefrom, what for and whereto?
- Theoretical and thematic approaches
- Regional cases
- The resurgence of the ‘region’ and ‘regional identity’: theoretical perspectives and empirical observations on regional dynamics in Europe
- 6 The contradictions of regionalism in North America
- Latin America: contrasting motivations for regional projects
- The Southern African security order: regional economic integration and security among developing states
- East Asian regionalism: much ado about nothing?
- The Commonwealth of Independent States: an example of failed regionalism?
- Index
6 - The contradictions of regionalism in North America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Notes on contributors
- ‘Regions’ and their study: wherefrom, what for and whereto?
- Theoretical and thematic approaches
- Regional cases
- The resurgence of the ‘region’ and ‘regional identity’: theoretical perspectives and empirical observations on regional dynamics in Europe
- 6 The contradictions of regionalism in North America
- Latin America: contrasting motivations for regional projects
- The Southern African security order: regional economic integration and security among developing states
- East Asian regionalism: much ado about nothing?
- The Commonwealth of Independent States: an example of failed regionalism?
- Index
Summary
Abstract. Students of regionalism almost reflexively include North America in their lists of regions in contemporary global politics. Inevitably students of regionalism point to the integrative agreements between the countries of North America: the two free trade agreements that transformed the continental economy beginning in the late 1980s – the Canada–US Free Trade Agreement that came into force on 1 January 1989, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, that came into force on 1 January 1994–and the Secutity and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), launched in March 2005. These agreements, it is implied, are just like the integrative agreements that forge the bonds of regionalism elsewhere in the world. We argue that this is a profound misreading, not only of the two free trade agreements of the late 1980s and early 1990s and the SPP mechanism of 2005, but also of the political and economic implications of those agreements. While these integrative agreements have created considerable regionalisation in North America, there has been little of the regionalism evident in other parts of the world. We examine the contradictions of North America integration in order to explain why North Americans have been so open to regionalisation but so resistant to regionalism.
Introduction
Announcing his candidacy for the presidency in November 1979, Ronald Reagan articulated a vision for what he termed a ‘North American Accord’ between Canada, the United States and Mexico, promising that he would ‘work toward the goal of using the assets of this continent … for the common good of all its people’.
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- Globalising the Regional, Regionalising the Global , pp. 147 - 168Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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