Skip to main content

Introduction: Soft Threats, Security Gaps, and an American Plague: Exploring a Collective Outcome

  • Chapter
North America’s Soft Security Threats and Multilateral Governance

Abstract

Even before 9/11, North America faced a direct security threat. It was not only that an effective counterstrategy was absent, but also that a regional entity (or collection of states) was not expected to do what an individual state could do better: guarantee national and regional security. So the perennial illicit-flow problem crisscrossing Canada, Mexico, and the United States—our three North American constituencies—remained as unresolved in the national policy domain as ever. In flow-volumes and human casualties, the region was far worse off at the start of the twenty-first century than at the end of the twentieth century.

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

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
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

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrahamsen, Rita, and Michaell C. Williams. 2011. Security Beyond the State: Private Security in International Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison, Graham T. and Philip Zelikow. 1999. Essence of Decision-Making: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Originally Allison. Essence of Decision-Making: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrade-Eekhoff, Katharine. 2006. “Migration and development in El Salvador: Ideal versus reality.” Migration Information Sources: Selected Readings on Central America. Edited by Kivin Kalia (April), 30–37. Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/pdf/Migration:_Information_Source-Central_America.pdf.

  • Arévalo, Juan José. 1961. The Shark and the Sardines. Translated by June Cobb and Raúl Osegueda. New York: Lyle Stewart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aydinli, Ersel. 2005. “Anarchy meets globalization: A new security dilemma for the modernization state.” Globalization, Security, and the Nation State. Edited by Aydinli and James N. Rosenau, Ch. 6. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldor, Lolita C. 2010. “Senators press for troops on the border: McCain requests 6,000 National Guardsmen to bolster security.” News, May 21, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaubien, Jason. 2009. “Violence continues as drug wars rage in Mexico.” National Public Radio, March 23. Available at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102188685.

  • Bernard, William S. 1998. “Immigration: History of U.S. policy.” The Immigration Reader: America in a Multidisciplinary Perspective. Edited by David Jacobson. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, Ch. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billeaud, Jacques. 2010. “Fence isn’t cure-all for US’s porous border: $2.4bln spent to build it; immigrants keep scaling it with ladders.” News, June 1, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booth, William. 2010. “Violent criminals may face a united society: President Calderón calls for nation’s help amid a violence surge.” News, August 9, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brands, Hal. 2010. Crime, Violence, and the Crisis in Guatemala: A Case Study in the Erosion of the State. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 2009. “Mexico’s narco-insurgency and U.S. counterdrug policy.” Strategic Studies Institute Monograph, May 25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brice, Arthur. 2009. “Mexican smugglers use Pacific as new route.” CNN, September 24. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/09/23/california.border.shooting/index.html.

  • Bruneau, Thomas, Lucía Dammerl, and Elizabeth Skinner, eds. 2011. Maras: Gang Violence and Security in Central America. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buehn, Andreas and Stefan Eichler. 2009. “Smuggling illegal versus legal goods across the U.S.-Mexico border: A structured equation model approach.” Southern Economic Journal (October). Available at: www.allbuisness.com/crime-law/criminal-offenses-misc-smuggling/13405086–1.html.

  • Burnett, John. 2009. “Mexican drug cartels recruiting young men, boys.” National Public Radio, March 24. Available at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102249839.

  • Collins, Randall. 2011. “Patrimonial alliances and failures of state penetration: A historical dynamic of crime, corruption, gangs, and mafias.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 636 (July): 16–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castillo, E. Eduardo and Martha Mendoza. 2010. “US officials seek for change in drug war: To focus on Mexico’s corrupt police, courts and politicians.” News, May 27, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cawthorne, Andrew. 2012. “Latin America rebels against Obama over Cuba.” Reuters. April 15. Available at: www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/15/us-americas-summit-idUSBRE83D0E220120. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Centrode Investigación y Docenciade Económicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI). 2006. Public Opinion and Foreign Policy in México. Mexico, DF: CIDE, COMEXI, 59–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chanona, Alejandro. 2011. “Regional security governance in the Americas: The Organization of American States.” The Security Governance of Regional Organizations. Edited by Emil J. Kirchner and Roberto Dominguez. London: Routledge, Ch. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chat, Richard P., William P. Ryan, and Barbara E. Taylor. 2005. Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chetail, Vincent, ed. 2009. Post- Conflict Peacekeepiing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Chinese illegal immigrants discovered in Texas border town.” CNN, June 6, 2008. Available at: http://cnn.com/2008/US/06/06.texas.chinese.ap/index.html.

  • Delange, Jacqueline. 2012. “Summit of the Americas: Stephen Harper says approach to drug cartels not working.” Huffington Post. April 15. Available at: www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/15/summit-of-the-americas-stephenharper-drugs_. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Diaz, Gabriela and Gretchen Kuhner. 2008. “Women migrants in detention in Mexico: Conditions and due process.” Migration Information Source (June). Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=684.

  • Diaz, Tom. 2009. No Boundaries: Transnational Latino Gangs and American Law Enforcement. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditchburn, Jennifer. 2012. “Supply management on table as Harper touts trade at Americas summit.” The Globe and Mail. April 12. Available at: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/supply-management-on-table-as-harper-t. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • —. 2012. “Canada splits with Latin America on Cuba, war on drugs.” The Globe and Mail. April 15. Available at: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-splits-with-latin-america-on-cuba. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Ellerman, Antje. 2009. States against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fanz, Ashley. 2012. “The Mexico drug war: Bodies for billions.” CNN. January 15. Available at: www.cnn.com/2012/01/15/mexico-drug-war-essay/index.html?hpt=hp_c2. Accessed January 16, 2012.

  • Fernández de Castro, Rafael and Roberta Clariond Rangel. 2008. “Immigration reform in the United States.” Mexico- U.S. Migration Management: A Binational Approach. Edited by Agustín Escobar Latap and Susan F. Martin. Lanham, MA: Lexington Books of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Ch. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnegan, William. 2012. “The kingpins: The fight for Guadalajara.” The New Yorker, July 2, 40–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forero, Juan. 2012. “Some Latin leaders want new approach to drug war.” National Public Radio. April 12. Available at: www.npr.org/2012/04/12/150433647/some-latin-leaders-want-new-approach-to-dru. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • —. 2012. “At Americas summit, allies nudge U.S. to change.” National Public Radio. April 15. Available at: www.npr.org/2012/04/15/150658727/atamericas-summit-allies-nudge-u-s-to-change. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Grayson, George W. 2002. “Mexico’s forgotten southern border: Does Mexico practice at home what it preaches abroad?” Center for Immigration Studies (July): 9–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, Freda. 1989. Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, Chris. 2010. “Drug cartels threaten Mexican stability.” USA Today, February 10. Available at: www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010–02-10-mexico-cartels_N.htm.

  • Hayade la Torre, Victor Raúl. 1984. “Adónde va Indoamérica?” Obras Completas, Vol. 2. Edited by Luis Alberto Sanchez. Lima: Editorial Juan Mejía.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Infographic: Global cocaine flows in 2008.” The Globe and Mail, April 13, 2008. Available at: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/infographic-globalcocaine-flows-in-doo. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. 2006. “Guatemala: Ten years after peace accords, key provisions benefiting the displaced remain unimplemented,” Internal Displacement Profile. Available at: www.internal-displacement.org.

  • Jeffs, Jennifer. 2012. “Connecting the Americas for prosperity.” The Globe and Mail. April 13. Available at: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/connecting-the-americas-for-pr. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Jervis, Robert. 2003. “Understanding the Bush Doctrine.” Political Science Quarterly, 118, no. 3 (Fall): 365–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 2005. “Why the Bush Doctrine cannot be sustained.” Political Science Quarterly, 120, no. 3 (Fall): 351–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joppke, Christian. 1999. Immigration and the Nation- State: The United States, Germany, and Great Britain. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kapstein, Ethan B. and Michael Mastanduno, eds. 1999. Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies After the Cold War. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaste, Martin. 2009. “Cartels fueling violence in Mexico take root in U.S.” National Public Radio. March 25. Available at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102322570&ps=rs.

  • Kelley, Ninette and Michael Trebilcock. 2010. The Making of the Mosaic: A History of Canadian Immigration Policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirchner, Emil and James Sperling. 2007. EU Security Governance. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koven, Steven G. and Frank Götzke. 2010. American Immigration Policy: Confronting the Nation’s Challenges. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • La Jeunesse, William and Maxim Lott. 2009. “The myth of 90 percent: Only a small fraction of guns in Mexico come from U.S.” Fox News, April 2. Available at: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/realityzone/UFNmyth90percent.html.

  • LeMay, Michael. 1987. From Open Door to Dutch Door: An Analysis of U.S. Immigration Policy Since 1920. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1994. Anatomy of a Public Policy: The Reform of Contemporary American Immigration Law. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 2006. Guarding the Gates: Immigration and National Security. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, Mark Hugo. 2008. “The Hispanic vote in the 2008 election.” Pew Hispanic Center, November 7. Available at: http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=98

  • Lyons, John. 2012. “Cocaine expansion in Peru raises fears of a global spread.” The Wall Street Journal, June 26, A1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahler, Sarah J. and Dusan Ugrina. 2006. “Central America: Crossroads of the Americas.” Migration Information Source: Selected Readings on Central America. Edited by Kivin Kalia (April), 3–15. Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/pdf/Migration:_Information_Source-Central_America.pdf.

  • Marsh, David and Gerry Stoker, ed. 2003. Theory and Methods in Political Science. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Susan. 2008. “Politics of U.S. Immigration reform.” Mexico- U.S. Migration Management: A Binational Approach. Edited by Agustín Escobar Latap and S. Martin. Lanham, MA: Lexington Books of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Ch. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDermott, Jeremy. 2009. “Mexican cartel threatens Guatemala President: One of Mexico’s most powerful drugs trafficking gangs has threatened to kill the president of Guatemala.” Telegraph, March 2. Available at: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthe caribbean/guatemala/4.

  • Mendoza, Martha. 2010. “Study: Mexico drug cartels avoid bank deposits.” June 2. Available at: www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jRe_GOFd3Bp1mVc8xF2mq16R.

  • —. 2010. “U.S.-Mexico border isn’t so dangerous: Violent crimes in the region are the lowest per capita in the U.S.” The News, June 4, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Mexico arrests Los Zetas gang ‘leader’ in Monterrey.” BBC News, June 10, 2010. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10281633.stm.

  • “Mexican drug gangs ‘spread to every region of US.’” BBC News, March 26, 2010. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8588509.stm.

  • “Mexico drug gangs ‘top US threat.’” BBC News, December 16, 2008. Available at: http://news.bb.c.o.uk/2/hi/americas/7785334.stm.

  • Millar, Alistair and Eric Rosand. 2006. Allied against Terrorism: What’s Needed to Strengthen Worldwide Commitment. New York: The Century Foundation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, Alexandra. 2010. “‘Mexico’s drug aid needs better oversight,’ GAO report says the US has no way to determine success of initiative.” News, July 22, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ploeser, James, N. D. “Failed trade policy and immigration: Cause and effect.” Public Citizen. Available at: www.citizen.org.

  • Pointer, James. 2008. “Guatemala fears Mexico drug spillover.” BBC News, December 17. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7786392.stm.

  • “Remittances hit bottom and average drops.” News, June 4, 2010, 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez, Olga R. 2008. “Mexico cracks down on illegal Central American immigrants.” Houston Chronicle, April 13. Available at: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5696920.html.

  • Rosenau, James. 1997. Along the Domestic-Foreign Frontier: Exploring Governance in a Turbulent World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, Christopher. 2010. “Largest weapons cache in years seized in Laredo.” Houston Chronicle, June 2. Available at: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7033488.html.

  • Sibaja, Marco. 2012. “Summit of the Americas: Cuba absence causes tension between US and Latin America.” Huffington Post, April 15. Available at: www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/15/summit-of-the-americas-2012-cuba_n_14271. Accessed April 16, 2012.

  • Slevin, Peter. 2010. “Nothing stops border crossers: ‘National Guard soldiers won’t make a difference.’” News, May 31, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperling, James. 2010. “National security cultures, technology of public goods supply, and security governance.” National Security Cultures: Patterns of Global Governance. Edited by Emil J. Kirchner and Sperling . London: Routledge, Ch. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, James. 2006. “Guatemala: Economic migrants replace political refugees.” Migration Information Source: Selected Readings on Central America. Edited by Kivin Kalia (April), 16–21, 74–83. Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/pdf/Migration:_Information_Source-Central_America.pdf.

  • “SRE condemns shooting: Mexican gov’t: US border agent’s killing of Mexican boy is worrisome.” News, June 9, 2010, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. “States to partner in tackling crime: Governors ask for bigger budgets to combat insecurity,” News, August 13, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, Scott and Fred Burton. 2009. “Mexico: Economics and the arms trade.” Stratfor: Global Security and Intelligence Report, July 9. Available at: www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090708_mexico_economics_and_arms_trade.

  • “Summit of the Americas agree war on drugs a failure.” The Globe and Mail, April 16, 2012. Editorial. Available at: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/summit-of-the-americas-agree. Accessed April 17, 2012.

  • Tavares, Rodrigo. 2010. Regional Security: The Capacity of International Organizations. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 2010. “‘Project Deliverance’ results in more than 2,200 arrests during 22-month operation, seizures of approximately 74 tons of drugs and $154 million in U.S. currency.” June 10. Available at: www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-ag-680.html.

  • US Drug Enforcement Administration. 2009. “Hundreds of alleged Sinaloan Cartel members and associates arrested in nationwide takedown of Mexican drug traffickers.” News Release, February 25. Available at: www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2009/la022509.html.

  • US Government Accountability Office. 2009. Firearms Trafficking: U.S. Efforts to Combat Arms Trafficking to Mexico Face Planning and Coordination Challenges. Report to Congressional Requesters, # GAO-09–709. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, R. B. J. 2006. “On the protection of nature and the nature of protection.” The Politics of Protection: Sites of Insecurity and Political Agency. Edited by Jef Huysmans, Andrew Dobson, and Raia Prokhovnik. London: Routledge, Ch. 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, III, William O. 1994. “The Bush Administration’s Andean drug strategy in historical perspective.” Edited by Bruce M. Bagley and Walker . New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, Ch. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walser, Ray. 2008. “Mexico, drug cartels, and the Merida Initiative: A fight we cannot afford to lose.” Heritage Foundation Research Report. July 23. Available at: www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2008/07/Mexico-Drug-Cartels-andthe-Merida.

  • Zayas, Rocio. 2010. “AI urges US review its taser use policy: Organization is worried about unnecessary level of violent use.” News, June 4, 3.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2013 Imtiaz Hussain and Jorge A. Schiavon

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hussain, I., Schiavon, J.A. (2013). Introduction: Soft Threats, Security Gaps, and an American Plague: Exploring a Collective Outcome. In: Hussain, I., Schiavon, J.A. (eds) North America’s Soft Security Threats and Multilateral Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137349897_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics