Home › Books & Reviews › Capsule Reviews › The Mexican-American Border Region: Issues And Trends

The Mexican-American Border Region: Issues And Trends

Raul A. Fernandez
Reviewed by By Abraham F. Lowenthal
Summer 1990
Print Email
Login or Register to leave a comment.

Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com.
Raul A. Fernandez
Notre Dame Press
1989
176 pp.
$21.95

A brief and useful guide to the changing characteristics of the extended region where the southwestern part of the United States and the northern states of Mexico intersect and produce dynamic tensions-"a tug-of-war of various contradictions." During the last forty years the border region has experienced a major transformation, involving the improved exploitation of water resources and the growth of mechanized agricultural industry; these trends spawn problems as well as solutions for both countries. Competing visions of how Mexico and the United States should relate to each other are likely to be sharply tested at the frontier.

Related

Essay, Nov/Dec 2001
The Mirage of Mexican Guest Workers
Philip L. Martin and Michael S. Teitelbaum

U.S. and Mexican policymakers are rushing to resolve long-standing immigration problems. Guest worker programs are on the table, but the negotiators show a troublesome myopia about the programs' implications. The supposed economic benefits of such programs may prove illusory, and the "guests" may in fact come to stay.

Read
Essay, Jan/Feb 1996
Pivotal States and U.S. Strategy
Robert Chase, Emily Hill, Paul Kennedy

The United States is spreading its aid and efforts too thin in the developing world. It should focus on a small number of "pivotal states": countries whose fate determines the survival and success of the surrounding region and ultimately the stability of the international system. The list should include Mexico, Brazil, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. A discriminating strategy for shoring up the developing world is a wise way to address traditional security threats and new transnational issues; it might be thought of as the new, improved domino theory. If effective, it could forestall the move in Congress to wipe out nearly all foreign aid.

Read
Comment, May/Jun 1996
The Case for Mexico's Rescue: The Peso Package Looks Even Better Now
Bradford DeLong, Christopher DeLong, and Sherman Robinson

The U.S.-led effort to revive the peso staved off a Great Depression in Mexico. The Mexican economy is turning the corner and paying off its debt to the United States. Mexico was not broke last year; it faced a liquidity crisis. Clinton's action ensured that economic reform in Mexico--and other developing nations--continues.

Read