THE INSTITUTIONALISATION of REGIONAL INTEGRATION in NORTH AMERICA by IVÁN FARÍAS PELCASTRE
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THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN NORTH AMERICA by IVÁN FARÍAS PELCASTRE A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Political Science and International Studies School of Government and Society College of Social Sciences University of Birmingham November 2013 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Current studies of regional integration in North America claim that this process is limited to the entering of intergovernmental agreements that aim to expand and enhance cross- border flows of goods and capitals between Mexico, Canada and the US. Such studies claim that the political effects of the process on nation-states are limited and constrained by the decisions of the national governments. In contrast, this thesis argues that the actions of transnational actors have increased the policy interdependence between the three countries in the arenas of environmental protection, labour cooperation and protection of foreign direct investment. Transnational actors have used, applied and interpreted the rules originally created by the intergovernmental agreements –NAFTA, NAAEC, BECA and NAALC– and have subsequently demanded additional and improved rules. Regional institutions have in turn responded to these demands by supplying new and improved regional rules. In doing so, transnational actors and regional institutions have furthered the policy interdependence between the three countries. This phenomenon, known in other contexts as institutionalisation, demonstrates that the process of regional integration in North America is more substantial than previous studies claim. In addition, it illustrates the relevance of the theories of Liberal Intergovernmentalism and Supranational Governance to the analysis of the emergence and development of the North American integration process. For my parents, Refugio Pelcastre Cortés y Heriberto Farías Pérez For my grandparents, Cándida Cortés Cruz, Lorenzo Pelcastre Vargas, Paula Pérez Ramos y Heriberto Farías Aguilar For Kansas ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to many people, who in various ways and different times helped me to walk the long and winding road that is the PhD. I thank first my supervisors Dr. Luis Cabrera and Dr. David Bailey for their guidance, patience and continued help in constructing and improving the arguments and ideas presented in this thesis. Our discussions as well as their questions and advice constantly pushed me to find better and more effective ways to construct and present my ideas and arguments. I am certain that without their continued help, trust and friendship I would not have been able to deliver this thesis. I thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (National Council for Science and Technology, CONACYT) for their financial and logistical support towards the undertaking and completion of my master’s and doctoral studies. The generous funding they provided me with for five years enabled me to take the lifetime opportunity of undertaking my postgraduate studies abroad, and thus to further develop as a professional in the fields of Political Science and International Relations. I am thankful for and proud of their work, which allows Mexican students to further their studies and join the best research centres in Mexico and the rest of the world, to become experts in their fields. I hope that other students will have the same opportunity that the Council gave me. I thank the Secretaría de Educación Pública (Secretariat of Public Education, SEP) for their financial support towards the completion of my Doctoral Studies. The generous funding they provided me with for a year allowed me to continue focusing on my research at the crucial time that was the final year of my doctoral studies. I am thankful for their support and I hope that other Mexican students will have the same opportunity that the Secretariat gave me. I also thank the Department of Political Science and International Studies, the College of Social Sciences, and the European Consortium for Political Research for the funding they provided me with to attend and present working research papers at various workshops, colloquia and conferences. Likewise, I thank the students at the University of Melbourne and the audiences at various seminars, colloquia, conferences and workshops held in Birmingham, Bremen, Boston, Cambridge, Sheffield, Strasbourg, Oxford and Venice, whose feedback helped me clarify, amend and improve my arguments and ideas. The comments and feedback that I received at the events helped to improve the papers I presented, and thus construct and improve the arguments that eventually became part of this thesis. I thank the Graduate School at the University of Birmingham for the generous funding they provided me with to undertake an internship at the Department of Social and Economic Affairs of the United Nations in New York, United States. I also thank Maria Mercedes Sánchez for giving me the opportunity to undertake this internship at the Division for Sustainable Development under her supervision. To be part of the most important international institution in the world was an amazing and unique experience that further encouraged me to continue my training as an International Relations professional and expert. I thank Charlotte Galpin, Anne Gibney, Dr. Victoria Hudson, Cherry Miller, Marea Gwyneth Sing and Dr. Laurence Cooley, for their comments and remarks on earlier drafts of this thesis, which helped me to improve the presentation of my ideas and arguments. I am truly thankful for their selfless and dedicated effort, which I hope I will be able to repay in the coming years. I also thank Daniel Derbyshire for his comments on these acknowledgements. I also thank the rest of the students at the Department of Political Science and the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, whose friendship and advice helped me to walk and reach the end of the PhD path. I specially thank Dr. Basak Alpan, Corina Filipescu, Josefin Graef, Mai Hamed, Daniela Ionescu, Dr. Rosa Terlazzo, Saori Shibata, Wenjuan Zhu, Ali Amirmoayed, Onder Cakir, Dr. Oniel Francisco Díaz Jiménez, Phạm Hưng Hùng, Dr. Anthony Hopkins, Jiesheng Li, Dr. Samir Naser, Dr. David Norman, and Shaf Zafeer for their friendship, which constantly reminded me that undertaking a PhD is not a so lonely endeavour. I thank Professor Robyn Eckersley, as well as Professor Kathryn Harrison, for inviting and helping me to arrange my research visits to the Universities of Melbourne, Australia, and British Columbia, Canada, correspondingly. My time in Vancouver and Melbourne allowed me, first, to focus on writing Chapter 6 of this thesis and then to strengthen its arguments. Professor Eckersley’s feedback and comments on the first draft of this chapter proved to be of invaluable help to improve my arguments and their presentation. I thank the students in the POLS 105 Introduction to International Relations and POLS 214 International Relations Theory seminars for their unsuspecting help in improving my teaching and presentation skills. Their enthusiasm and inquisitiveness brought back memories of my own time as an undergraduate student in International Relations, and constantly reminded me of the importance of connecting theoretical analysis with the resolution of practical problems in international relations, which is often forgotten in academia. Likewise, I thank the Centre for Learning and Academic Development at the University of Birmingham for the funding they provided me to organise a study trip to Amnesty International UK’s Human Rights Action Centre in London. I am convinced that this project furthered the understanding among students of such connection between the theory and practice of International Relations. I thank Patricia Carr, who countless times went beyond duty to help me overcome the day-to-day administrative hurdles that every PhD student faces during their time at the University of Birmingham. I also thank my friends who, maybe unknowingly, helped to me get through my time as a PhD student in the United Kingdom. I thank Neda Niobe Jaramillo Vargas, Rocío Juárez Ugarte, Aidee Magaly López Rodríguez, Diana Bárbara Santos González, Indira Miranda Nuñez, Silvia Adriana Sánchez de la Rosa, María Balbina Saucedo Ruiz, Javier Rafael Garayoa Guajardo, Julio César García Martínez, Pedro Antonio Gonzaléz Pérez, David Pazmiño Mora and David Iván Trujillo Solís, for visiting me in Birmingham during my time as a PhD student. I thank you for sharing some time with me, and I wish I had spent more time with each one of you. Your stay here in Birmingham made me miss Mexico (and New York) a bit less. Likewise, I thank my friends in Mexico, the United Kingdom and elsewhere for always being there for me. Your sincere friendship has brought me happiness and fulfilment, has reminded me of the incredible moments that I have spent with each one of you, in Mexico or abroad, and has created new memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I thank my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, godparents and the rest of my family in Mexico City and the states of Puebla, Texas and Florida, for the love and happy moments they provided me in my 29 years of existence. During my six years in the United Kingdom, their calls, emails and texts have kept me in touch with Mexico and made me feel a bit closer to home. I am sorry about the time we have missed but I hope that we will soon be together again to share more moments and memories.