Two Nations Indivisible

Two Nations Indivisible
Author: Shannon K. O'Neil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2013-03-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199898340

Five freshly decapitated human heads are thrown onto a crowded dance floor in western Mexico. A Mexican drug cartel dismembers the body of a rival and then stitches his face onto a soccer ball. These are the sorts of grisly tales that dominate the media, infiltrate movies and TV shows, and ultimately shape Americans' perception of Mexico as a dangerous and scary place, overrun by brutal drug lords. Without a doubt, the drug war is real. In the last six years, over 60,000 people have been murdered in narco-related crimes. But, there is far more to Mexico's story than this gruesome narrative would suggest. While thugs have been grabbing the headlines, Mexico has undergone an unprecedented and under-publicized political, economic, and social transformation. In her groundbreaking book, Two Nations Indivisible, Shannon K. O'Neil argues that the United States is making a grave mistake by focusing on the politics of antagonism toward Mexico. Rather, we should wake up to the revolution of prosperity now unfolding there. The news that isn't being reported is that, over the last decade, Mexico has become a real democracy, providing its citizens a greater voice and opportunities to succeed on their own side of the border. Armed with higher levels of education, upwardly-mobile men and women have been working their way out of poverty, building the largest, most stable middle class in Mexico's history. This is the Mexico Americans need to get to know. Now more than ever, the two countries are indivisible. It is past time for the U.S. to forge a new relationship with its southern neighbor. Because in no uncertain terms, our future depends on it.

The U.S.-Mexico Transborder Region

The U.S.-Mexico Transborder Region
Author: Carlos G. Vélez-Ibáñez
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2017-04-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0816535159

"One of the most complete collections of essays on U.S.-Mexico border studies"--Provided by publisher.

Line in the Sand

Line in the Sand
Author: Rachel St. John
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2012-11-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691156131

Line in the Sand details the dramatic transformation of the western U.S.-Mexico border from its creation at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848 to the emergence of the modern boundary line in the first decades of the twentieth century. In this sweeping narrative, Rachel St. John explores how this boundary changed from a mere line on a map to a clearly marked and heavily regulated divide between the United States and Mexico. Focusing on the desert border to the west of the Rio Grande, this book explains the origins of the modern border and places the line at the center of a transnational history of expanding capitalism and state power in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Moving across local, regional, and national scales, St. John shows how government officials, Native American raiders, ranchers, railroad builders, miners, investors, immigrants, and smugglers contributed to the rise of state power on the border and developed strategies to navigate the increasingly regulated landscape. Over the border's history, the U.S. and Mexican states gradually developed an expanding array of official laws, ad hoc arrangements, government agents, and physical barriers that did not close the line, but made it a flexible barrier that restricted the movement of some people, goods, and animals without impeding others. By the 1930s, their efforts had created the foundations of the modern border control apparatus. Drawing on extensive research in U.S. and Mexican archives, Line in the Sand weaves together a transnational history of how an undistinguished strip of land became the significant and symbolic space of state power and national definition that we know today.

The U.S.-Mexico Border

The U.S.-Mexico Border
Author: Michael C. LeMay
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2022-01-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1440874808

This book offers answers to essential questions about the border between the United States and Mexico and connected issues that are accessible to readers interested in immigration, border security, and U.S.-Mexico relations. Comprising seven chapters, The U.S.-Mexico Border: A Reference Handbook surveys the complex topic for students and readers. Chapter 1 discusses the political, social, and economic contexts in which the border came to exist. Chapter 2 discusses problems, controversies, and proposed solutions. Chapter 3 consists of original essays contributed by outside scholars, complementing the perspective and expertise of the author. Chapter 4 profiles major organizations and people who, as stakeholders in border politics, drive the agenda on the issue. Chapter 5 presents data and documents on the topic, giving readers the ability to analyze the facts. Chapter 6 provides additional resources that the reader may wish to consult, such as books, journal articles, and films. Chapter 7 provides a detailed chronology of important events, and the book closes with a useful glossary of key terms used throughout the book and a comprehensive subject index.

Immigration Law and the U.S.–Mexico Border

Immigration Law and the U.S.–Mexico Border
Author: Kevin R. Johnson
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816505594

Americans from radically different political persuasions agree on the need to “fix” the “broken” US immigration laws to address serious deficiencies and improve border enforcement. In Immigration Law and the US–Mexico Border, Kevin Johnson and Bernard Trujillo focus on what for many is at the core of the entire immigration debate in modern America: immigration from Mexico. In clear, reasonable prose, Johnson and Trujillo explore the long history of discrimination against US citizens of Mexican ancestry in the United States and the current movement against “illegal aliens”—persons depicted as not deserving fair treatment by US law. The authors argue that the United States has a special relationship with Mexico by virtue of sharing a 2,000-mile border and a “land-grab of epic proportions” when the United States “acquired” nearly two-thirds of Mexican territory between 1836 and 1853. The authors explain US immigration law and policy in its many aspects—including the migration of labor, the place of state and local regulation over immigration, and the contributions of Mexican immigrants to the US economy. Their objective is to help thinking citizens on both sides of the border to sort through an issue with a long, emotional history that will undoubtedly continue to inflame politics until cooler, and better-informed, heads can prevail. The authors conclude by outlining possibilities for the future, sketching a possible movement to promote social justice. Great for use by students of immigration law, border studies, and Latino studies, this book will also be of interest to anyone wondering about the general state of immigration law as it pertains to our most troublesome border.

U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Author: Oscar Jáquez Martínez
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 290
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780842024471

The US-Mexican borderlands form the region where the United States and Latin America have interacted with the greatest intensity. This work addresses the protracted conflict rooted in the vast difference in power between Mexico and its northern neighbor. Each of the seven parts explores a key issue in borderlands studies.

Vanishing Frontiers

Vanishing Frontiers
Author: Andrew Selee
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2018-06-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1610399021

There may be no story today with a wider gap between fact and fiction than the relationship between the United States and Mexico. Wall or no wall, deeply intertwined social, economic, business, cultural, and personal relationships mean the US-Mexico border is more like a seam than a barrier, weaving together two economies and cultures. Mexico faces huge crime and corruption problems, but its remarkable transformation over the past two decades has made it a more educated, prosperous, and innovative nation than most Americans realize. Through portraits of business leaders, migrants, chefs, movie directors, police officers, and media and sports executives, Andrew Selee looks at this emerging Mexico, showing how it increasingly influences our daily lives in the United States in surprising ways -- the jobs we do, the goods we consume, and even the new technology and entertainment we enjoy. From the Mexican entrepreneur in Missouri who saved the US nail industry, to the city leaders who were visionary enough to build a bridge over the border fence so the people of San Diego and Tijuana could share a single international airport, to the connections between innovators in Mexico's emerging tech hub in Guadalajara and those in Silicon Valley, Mexicans and Americans together have been creating productive connections that now blur the boundaries that once separated us from each other.

The U.S.-Mexican Border Today

The U.S.-Mexican Border Today
Author: Paul Ganster
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2015-08-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442231122

Systematically exploring the dynamic interface between Mexico and the United States, this comprehensive survey considers the historical development, current politics, society, economy, and daily life of the border region. Now fully updated and revised, the book provides an overview of the history of the region and then traces the economic cycles and social movements from the 1880s through the beginning of the twenty-first century that created the modern border region, showing how the border shares characteristics of both nations while maintaining an internal coherence that transcends its divisive international boundary. The authors conclude with an in-depth analysis of the key issues of the contemporary borderlands: industrial development and maquiladoras, the North American Free Trade Agreement, rapid urbanization, border culture, demographic and migration issues, the environmental crisis, implications of climate change, Native Americans living near the border, U.S. and Mexican cooperation and conflict at the border, and drug trafficking and violence. They also place the border in its global context, examining it as a region caught between the developed and developing world and highlighting the continued importance of borders in a rapidly globalizing world. Richly illustrated with photographs and maps and enhanced by up-to-date and accessible statistical tables, this book is an invaluable resource for all those interested in borderlands and U.S.-Mexican relations.

Human Rights Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

Human Rights Along the U.S.-Mexico Border
Author: Kathleen A. Staudt
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2009-11-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816528721

Much political oratory has been devoted to safeguarding AmericaÕs boundary with Mexico, but policies that militarize the border and criminalize immigrants have overshadowed the regionÕs widespread violence against women, the increase in crossing deaths, and the lingering poverty that spurs people to set out on dangerous northward treks. This book addresses those concerns by focusing on gender-based violence, security, and human rights from the perspective of women who live with both violence and poverty. From the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, scholars from both sides of the 2,000-mile border reflect expertise in disciplines ranging from international relations to criminal justice, conveying a more complex picture of the region than that presented in other studies. Initial chapters offer an overview of routine sexual assaults on women migrants, the harassment of Central American immigrants at the hands of authorities and residents, corruption and counterfeiting along the border, and near-death experiences of border crossers. Subsequent chapters then connect analysis with solutions in the form of institutional change, social movement activism, policy reform, and the spread of international norms that respect human rights as well as good governance. These chapters show how all facets of the border situationÑglobalization, NAFTA, economic inequality, organized crime, political corruption, rampant patriarchyÑpromote gendered violence and other expressions of hyper-masculinity. They also show that U.S. immigration policy exacerbates the problems of border violenceÑin marked contrast to the border policies of European countries. By focusing on womenÕs everyday experiences in order to understand human security issues, these contributions offer broad-based alternative approaches and solutions that address everyday violence and inattention to public safety, inequalities, poverty, and human rights. And by presenting a social and democratic international feminist framework to address these issues, they offer the opportunity to transform todayÕs security debate in constructive ways.