Skip to main content

Integration and Disintegration in North America: The Rise and Fall of International Economic Law in One Region

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 1210 Accesses

Part of the book series: European Yearbook of International Economic Law ((EUROYEAR,volume 2))

Abstract

The jurisprudential significance of North America as far as regional economic integration is concerned depends in the first place on what we take North America to be. The general use of the term “North America” in Europe and Latin America as a synonym for the United States of America is unhelpful since this connotation reduces the region to one – albeit giant – national economy. For Canadians, “North America” has generally meant the entity comprised of Canada and mainland USA. Of obsessive interest to Canadians and negligible interest to Americans, this dyad generated little of interest in international economic law until the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), which entered into force on January 1, 1989, constitutionalized a by then closely allied, highly integrated, and culturally complementary dyad.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Gross National Income per capita is in Purchasing Power Parity in current international dollars; all data come from World Bank Group, 2009. World Development Indicators Database. Available online at: http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/DDPQQ/member.do?method=getMembers&userid= 1&queryId=135 (last accessed: 25 January 2010).

  2. 2.

    For a review of the literature on Canadian-American relations see Smith, Doing the Continental: Conceptualizations of the Canadian-American Relationship in the Long Twentieth Century, Canadian-American Public Policy 44 (2000).

  3. 3.

    See Weir, Lies, Damned Lies, and Trade Statistics: North American Integration and the Exaggeration of Canadian Imports, Canadian-American Public Policy 63 (2005).

  4. 4.

    Leycegui/Fernandez de Castro, Socios naturales? Cinco años del tratado de libre comercio de America del Norte, 2000. Top of Form.

  5. 5.

    Randall et al., North America without Borders? Integrating Canada, the United States, and Mexico, 1992.

  6. 6.

    Castro-Rea, Are US business priorities driving continental integration?, Edmonton Journal (27 March 2006).

  7. 7.

    Pastor, North America’s Second Decade, Foreign Affairs 83:1 (Jan/Feb 2004), pp. 124 et seq.

  8. 8.

    Pastor, Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New, 2001.

  9. 9.

    Hufbauer/Schott, NAFTA Revisited: Achievements and Challenges, 2005.

  10. 10.

    For an elaboration of the argument that continental free trade agreements combined with the World Trade Organization comprise an external constitution for its member-states, see Clarkson, Canada’s External Constitution under Global Trade Governance, in: Gendreau (ed.), Dessiner la société par le droit/Mapping Society Through Law, 2004, pp. 1–31.

  11. 11.

    Weiler, NAFTA Investment Arbitration and the Growth of International Economic Law, Canadian Business Law Journal 26 (2002), pp. 405–435.

  12. 12.

    Clarkson/Davidson Ladly/Merwart/Thorne, The Primitive Realities of Continental Governance in North America, in: Grande/Pauly (eds.), Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-first Century, 2005, pp. 168–194.

  13. 13.

    Cameron/Wise, The Political Impact of NAFTA on Mexico: Reflections on the Political Economy of Democratization, Canadian Journal of Political Science 37 (June 2004) 2, pp. 301–323.

  14. 14.

    In contrast with the coercive control exercised by an imperial power, “hegemon” is used in this chapter to denote the leader of a regime whose weaker members participate in formulating the norms and rules by which the system is governed.

  15. 15.

    Vega/Winham, The Role of NAFTA Dispute Settlement in the Management of Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. Trade and Investment Relations, Ohio Northern University Law Review 28 (2002) 3, pp. 651–706.

  16. 16.

    Weintraub et al., Free trade in the Americas: Economic and Political Issues for Governments and Firms, 2004.

  17. 17.

    Golob, North America Beyond NAFTA? Sovereignty, Identity, and Security in Canada-U.S. Relations, Canadian-American Public Policy 52 (2002).

  18. 18.

    Studer/Wise, Requiem or Revival? The Promise of North American Integration, 2007.

  19. 19.

    Huelsemeyer, Toward Deeper North American Integration: A Customs Union? Canadian-American Public Policy 59 (2004).

  20. 20.

    Bow, “When in Rome”, Comparing Canadian and Mexican Strategies for Influencing Policy Outcomes in the United States, Canadian-American Public Policy 65 (2006).

  21. 21.

    Globerman/Walker, Assessing NAFTA: A Trinational Analysis, 1993.

  22. 22.

    Shamsie/Grinspun, Whose Canada? Continental Integration, Fortress North America, and the Corporate Agenda, 2007.

  23. 23.

    Fry/Bybee, NAFTA 2002: A Cost/Benefit Analysis for the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Canadian-American Public Policy 49 (2002).

  24. 24.

    Harrison, The Road not Taken: Climate Change Policy in Canada and the United States, Global Environmental Politics 7 (November 2007) 4.

  25. 25.

    Abu-Laban/Jhappan/Rocher (eds.), Politics in North America: Redefining Continental Relations, 2008.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen Clarkson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Clarkson, S. (2011). Integration and Disintegration in North America: The Rise and Fall of International Economic Law in One Region. In: Herrmann, C., Terhechte, J. (eds) European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2011. European Yearbook of International Economic Law(), vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14432-5_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics