University of California, Los Angeles

Chicano Studies 125

U.S. - Mexico Relations

Chicano Studies 125 (Syllabus)
Spring Quarter 1998

Time: Mondays 6pm-9pm
Room: Pubic Policy 2250
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2pm-5pm

Professor Raul Hinojosa Ojeda
E-mail: hinojosa@ucla.edu
Phone: (310) 825-8956
Fax: (310) 206-5566
Office: Public Policy Building 5367

North American Integration and Development Center
Phone: (310) 206-4906
Office: Public Policy Building 2381
Web Site: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/chavez/hinojosa/chicano125/

U.S.-Mexico Relations: 150 Years of Asymmetrical Integration

This course will examine the complex dynamics and evolution of the relationship between Mexico and the United States. Besides sharing one of the longest borders in the world, these neighbors share the most dense pattern of economic and social linkages between any developed and developing countries across opposite sides of the North-South divide. The course will begin by developing a historical and political economy approach to the study of asymmetrical integration between advance industrial economies and developing countries. This theoretical framework is designed to encompass a wide range of issues/areas and their interdependence, including: the linkage between trade, capital flows, and migration; the related political dynamics between economic groups and state managers within and across both countries; and the social and political arenas for interaction between Mexico, Mexican migrants, Mexican origin communities in the U.S. and the rest of U.S. society.

Major historical stages in the evolution of Mexico-U.S. relations are explored, including the origins of U.S.-Mexico relations and subsequent periodic surges of integration, uneven institutional developments, and recurring, yet differentiated, periods of crisis. The course will then consider the current challenges being faced in the North America continent, including the persistence of financial debt, demographic and labor market interdependence, profound industrial and technological restructuring, and mounting environmental degradation. Social dimensions of unequal power relations within recent patterns of bi-national integration will also be explored, including the interplay between national identity, ethnicity and gender.

The course will then turn to the wide ranging debates between proponents and opposition groups in both countries concerning the evolution of the North American Free Trade Area. These debates have recently generated a new wave of cross border organizing and have focused public attention on the future of the North American region. We will try to place the U.S.-Mexico case in comparative perspective with respect to the East Asian NICs as well as with the Southern and Eastern Europe integration with the European Economic Community. This comparison will serve as a prelude to exploring potential alternative paths in the future evolution of North American integration and the nature of policy shifts, political democratization, and institutional restructuring that would be necessary to achieve a more equitable regional relationship.

Course requirements include a midterm examination and a 10-15 page research paper on a topic approved by the instructor in advance of the mid-term. Students will also be required to complete two assignment designed to use and analyze data that will be deployed on the web site of the course (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/chavez/hinojosa/chicano125/).

Readings

Reader of selected articles and book chapters.

Cardoso, Fernando Henrique and Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America. (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1979.

Recommended Texts and References

Clark Reynolds, Rául Hinojosa and Jorge Bustamante (eds.) Labor Market Interdependence Between the U.S. and Mexico (Stanford: Stanford University Press), 1992.

Harley Shaiken, Mexico in the Global Economy: High Technology and Work Organization in Export Industries (San Diego: UCSD Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies), 1990.

Castaneda, Jorge G., The Mexican Shock: Its Meaning for the U.S. (New York: The New Press), 1995.

Robert Pastor and Jorge Castaneda, Limits to Friendship: The United States and Mexico (New York: Random House) 1989.

Sydney Weintraub, A Marriage of Convenience (New York: Oxford) 1990.

Hinojosa-Ojeda, Rául, et al., "The National and Local Labor Market Impacts of North American Integration After NAFTA: Towards a Unified Framework for Tracking, Modeling, and Internet Data Accessing." Report to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs. Los Angeles: UCLA NAID Center (December) 1996.

Instituto Nacional de Estadástica Geografía e Informática, Estadásticas Históricas de México, Tomo I y II., 1986.

Secrataria de Programación y Presupuesto, Bases informativas para la utilización del modelo de insumo- producto: Homegeneización de las Matrices 1950-1960-1970. Tomo I, 1980.

Secrataria de Programación y Presupuesto, Bases informativas para la utilización del modelo de insumo- producto: Bases Informativas para el Análisis de los Cambios Estructurales de la Economía Mexicana en el Periodo 1950-1970. Tomo II, 1980.

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