Political Economy of NAFTA. York University AP/POLS 4117/ A Fall Term 2013

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1 Political Economy of NAFTA York University AP/POLS 4117/ A Fall Term 2013 Time: Thursday 4:00 7:00 p.m. Location: Founders College 110 Professor Bruce Smardon Office: 652 South Ross Office Hrs: Wednesday 12:30-1:30 and Thursday 2:30-3:30 p.m. Telephone: ext address: Please note: communication is to be used only for reasons that involve notification of problems concerning the course, e.g. missing exams for personal reasons or difficulties with enrollment, or other course-related questions. Students can come and speak to me about the course material in my office hours. Objective and Theme of the Course This course will review various dimensions of the development and application of the North American Free Trade Agreement. A central theme will be the way in which NAFTA has developed within a particular political economic context of neoliberal globalization. The way in which NAFTA has influenced the operation of state institutions and shaped social and economic structuring within the three member countries will be a primary focus of the course. The course will follow a seminar format. Students will be expected to do the readings for each week and be prepared to discuss those readings in the seminar. Students will prepare a summary of two of the readings for one week in the course. The summary will be distributed to other students attending the seminar that week and it will form the basis for seminar discussion. The summaries can then be used by students to prepare for the take-home exam. Ten per cent of the participation grade will be based on the seminar summary. Requirements and Evaluation The grade for will be calculated in the following manner: Essay 30% Essay Outline 20% Take-Home Exam 30% Participation 20%

2 There are two components to the essay assignment. The first component is an essay outline which will be due in class on October 10. The outline will specify what topic has been chosen and provide an initial set of arguments which will guide the research. It will also include an annotated bibliography of relevant books and articles. The portion outlining the arguments for the essay will be three pages maximum. The bibliography portion will also be three pages maximum. The second component is an essay which will be due in class on November 21. It will be between 12 and 15 typewritten double-spaced pages in length. The essay can involve any of the topics covered in the course including: a case-study of one policy area and how the trade agreement has had an impact on it; a discussion of social and political dynamics arising from the NAFTA agreement, such as social movements and the forms of contestation that have developed in response to the agreement; or the impact of NAFTA on democratic processes and political institutions. The topic areas are not mutually exclusive and discussion of one area may lead students to include other dimensions of NAFTA s politics. A number of possible policy areas could be considered: e.g. the environment, labour, immigration and border security, military, state institutions, energy, or social policies. The readings in the course provide a number of areas where the impact of NAFTA is examined and can be used as a startingpoint for essay research. The take-home exam will be given out on the last day of class (Dec. 5) and will be due back a week later. It will involve two questions and the answers to these questions will not exceed five pages each. Required Texts: 1) Imtiaz Hussain, Reevaluating NAFTA: Theory and Practice, (New York: Palgrave, 2012). 2) Norman Caulfield, NAFTA and Labor in North America, (Chicago: University of Illinois, 2010). 3) Jeffrey Ayres and Laura Macdonald, (eds.) Contentious Politics in North America: National Protest and Transnational Collaboration under Continental Integration, (New York: Palgrave, 2009). 4) Stephen Clarkson, Does North America Exist? Governing the Continent after NAFTA and 9/11 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008). 5) Course Reader All texts are available through the York University Bookstore.

3 Schedule of Class Sessions and Readings September 12 September 19 Course Introduction Changing Political Economic Trends and the NAFTA Agreement Caulfield, Chapter 1, Labor and Global Capitalism in North America, and Chapter 2, The Politics of Mexican Labor and Economic Development in Crisis Clarkson, Introduction and Chapter 1, North America as Market and Community September 22 is the last date to enroll without permission of the course instructor September 26 NAFTA: Impacts on Democracy and Political Institutions Julian Castro-Rea, North American Politics after September 11: Security, Democracy and Sovereignty, Chapter 2 in Ayres and Macdonald Clarkson, Chapter 2, NAFTA s Institutional Vacuum Greg Anderson, The Uncertain Politics of North American Integration, in J. Castro-Rea (ed.) Our North America: Social and Political Issues beyond NAFTA, (Burlington: Ashgate, 2012) (Chapter 1 in course reader) Stephen Clarkson and Antonio Torres-Ruiz, The Globalized Complexities of Transborder Governance in North America, Chapter 8 in Ayres and Macdonald October 3 Starting the Process: Neoliberalism and NAFTA Stephen McBride, The Political Economy of Neoliberalism in North America, Chapter 1 in Ayres and Macdonald Hussain, Chapter 1, NAFTA s 15-Year Itch

4 Clarkson, Chapter 7, The Role of Big Business in Negotiating Free Trade Duncan Cameron, Free Trade Allies: The Making of a New Continentalism, Chapter 2 in R. Grinspun and Y. Shamsie (eds.) Whose Canada? (Montreal: McGill-Queen s University Press, 2007). (Chapter 2 in course reader) October 10 Impact on Labour (1): Wages, Investment and Employment Clarkson, Chapter 4, Transborder Labour Governance Hussain, Chapter 2, North American Economic Integration in Theoretical Context, and Chapter 3, Investment: Sticky Fingers? Mario Seccareccia, Critical Macroeconomic Aspects of Deepening Economic Integration, Chapter 9 in Whose Canada? (Chapter 3 in course reader) October 17 Impact on Labour (2): Negotiating Frameworks Jonathan Graubart, The Legalization of Transnational Political Opportunity Structures: Mobilization of NAFTA s Labor Citizen Petitions for Domestic Political Gain, Chapter 9 in Ayres and Macdonald Tamara Kay, NAFTA and Labor Transnationalism, Chapter 1 in NAFTA and the Politics of Labor Transnationalism, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011). (Chapter 4 in course reader) Caulfield, Mexican Labour and Workers Rights under NAFTA and NAALC, Chapter 3, and The Crisis of Union-Management Relations in the United States and Canada, Chapter 5. Last date to enroll with the permission of the instructor is Oct. 4 October 24 Impact on Labour (3): Mexican Agriculture and the Maquiladoras James Cypher and Raul Delgado Wise, The Maquiladora Sector: Building Block of Mexico s Export-Led Model, Chapter 4 in Mexico s Economic Dilemma, (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010). (Chapter 5 in course reader)

5 Clarkson, Chapter 9, Agriculture: Beef, Wheat, and Corn Carolyn Tuttle, Fancy Factories and Dilapidated Dwellings, Chapter 7 in Mexican Women in American Factories, (Austin: University of Texas, 2012). (Chapter 6 in course reader) Cirila Quintero-Ramirez, Effects of Unions in the Mexican Maquiladora: A Comparative Analysis between Matamoros and Ciudad Juarez, in Miller (ed.) NAFTA and the Maquiladora Program, (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 2007). (Chapter 7 in course reader) Oct. 31 Nov. 7 No Class Co-Curricular Day Resisting NAFTA Restructuring Dorval Brunelle and Sylvie Dugas, Civil Society Organizations against Free Trade Agreements in North America, Chapter 3 in Ayres and Macdonald Joe Bundy, Paradoxes of a Transnational Civil Society in a Neoliberal World: The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, Chapter 4 in Ayres and Macdonald Armando Bartra and Gerardo Otero, Contesting Neoliberal Globalism and NAFTA in Rural Mexico: From State Corporatism to the Political-Cultural Formation of the Peasantry? Chapter 5 in Ayres and Macdonald Jorge Cadena-Roa, Contentious Politics in Mexico: Democratization and Mobilizations after NAFTA, Chapter 6 in Ayres and Macdonald Last date to withdraw from the course without receiving a grade is Nov. 8 Nov. 14 Dispute-Settlement and Intellectual Property: Solving Problems? Clarkson, Chapter 3, NAFTA s Uneven Judicial Capacity and Chapter 15, Intellectual Property Rights and Big Pharma Hussein, Chapter 4, NAFTA s Dispute-Settlement Mechanisms, and Chapter 5, NAFTA and Intellectual Property Rights

6 Nov. 21 NAFTA and the Environment Clarkson, Chapter 5, Transborder Environmental Governance, and Chapter 6, Transborder Water Governance, and Chapter 8, Continental Energy (In)security Blanca Torres, North American Transnational Environmental Actors and Mexico, Chapter 10 in Ayres and Macdonald Meera Fickling and Jeffrey Schott, Introduction, Chapter 1 in NAFTA and Climate Change, (Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2011). (Chapter 8 in course reader) Nov. 28 NAFTA and Border Management Clarkson, Chapter 16, Border Security and the Continental Perimeter Isidro Morales, The Governance of Mobility and Risk in a Post- NAFTA Rebordered North America, in I. Morales (ed.) National Solutions to Trans-Border Problems? (Burlington: Ashgate, 2011) (Chapter 9 in course reader) Sharryn Aiken, Risking Rights: An Assessment of Canadian Border Security Policies, Chapter 7 in Whose Canada? (Chapter 10 in course reader) Caulfield, Chapter 4, Labour Mobility and Workers Rights in North America Dec. 5 Summing Up: What has Happened under NAFTA? Hussein, Chapter 6, Increasing NAFTA Trade Trends: Incidental or Institutional? Chapter 8, Players under the Microscope, and Chapter 9, Conclusions and Implications Michael Dreiling and Tony Silvaggio, NAFTA and Transnational Contention: A Decade of Alliance and Conflict over Neoliberalism, Chapter 11 in Ayres and Macdonald Caulfield, Conclusion Clarkson, Conclusion: Framing the Answer