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Dangerous Deals: a Case Study of NAFTA As a Criminogenic Policy

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Dangerous Deals: a Case Study of NAFTA As a Criminogenic Policy Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 8-2017 Dangerous Deals: A Case Study of NAFTA as a Criminogenic Policy Daniel J. Patten Western Michigan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, and the Work, Economy and Organizations Commons Recommended Citation Patten, Daniel J., "Dangerous Deals: A Case Study of NAFTA as a Criminogenic Policy" (2017). Dissertations. 3165. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/3165 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DANGEROUS DEALS: A CASE STUDY OF NAFTA AS A CRIMINOGENIC POLICY by Daniel J. Patten A dissertation submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sociology Western Michigan University August 2017 Doctoral Committee: Susan M. Carlson, Ph.D., Chair Paul Ciccantell, Ph.D. Ronald C. Kramer, Ph.D. Scott Maggard, Ph.D. DANGEROUS DEALS: A CASE STUDY OF NAFTA AS A CRIMINOGENIC POLICY Daniel J. Patten, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2017 This study examines the creation of a criminogenic policy, NAFTA, and its subsequent social harms that primarily impacted poor rural farmers and indigenous people in Mexico. Previous research into state-corporate crime has focused on crimes committed by one state and one corporation, while little research has investigated the commission of crimes by more than one state operating in collusion. Previous research on human rights violations has emphasized genocide and physical integrity rights, while this study raises attention to “lesser” human rights violations such as abusive working conditions, lack of political participation in policy formation, and limited access to clean air and water. Criminogenic policies can contribute to these forms of human rights violations, and offer one avenue for studying the relationship between states. Using criminogenic policy as a guiding concept, this study asks and begins to answer at least three questions: (1) Can policies (e.g., treaties, declarations, conventions, charters, etc.) legally created cause social harm (crime/human rights violations)?; (2) Are some policies criminogenic based on how they are formed?; and (3) Was NAFTA criminal and/or criminogenic? Utilizing case study method, this study employs an analytical framework for studying criminogenic policies to the case of NAFTA. This framework is informed by four primary bodies of literature including state-corporate crime, world-systems analysis, social structure of accumulation theory, and neo-Gramscian work on the transnational capitalist class. Numerous sources including academic journals, newspapers, historical archives, meeting memos, recorded phone conversations, NGO reports, and governmental documents are used to reconstruct the time before, during, and after the NAFTA negotiations and their subsequent social harms. The results from this study indicate that members of a transnational capitalist class spanning North America including political leaders, business elites, prominent intellectuals, media pundits, and members of international financial institutions heavily influenced the creation of NAFTA. The TCC actively blocked public participation in NAFTA, and Mexico desperate for foreign investment gave larger concessions than either the United States or Canada. In the over twenty years since NAFTA, various social harms have affected primarily rural farmers and indigenous people in Mexico. Of these effects, this study documents the poverty, inequality, un- and underemployment, harsh working conditions, lax workers’ rights and protections, displacement, product-dumping, improper removal of toxic wastes, deforestation, water shortages, soil erosion, air and water pollution, exploitation of guest workers, and drug-, border-, and immigration-related violence in Mexico as a result of NAFTA. This study charges that NAFTA is criminal and/or criminogenic on three counts violating the UN International Bill of Human Rights: (1) the NAFTA negotiation process was criminal and criminogenic for its undemocratic structure, influence of the TCC, and oppression of opposition groups, (2) the written text of NAFTA was criminal and criminogenic for its failure to include human rights protections; and (3) NAFTA was criminogenic for the various listed social harms that occurred as a partial result of NAFTA. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is dedicated to my grandfather Robert E. Hatfield who was unable to see its completion. Regardless, I would not be the person I am today without his patience, support, and generosity. I am deeply grateful to my chair, Dr. Susan Carlson, for her persistent guidance, insightful contributions, and expedient and extensive editing throughout this project’s entirety. I also owe a thanks to my remaining committee members, Dr. Paul Ciccantell, Dr. Ronald Kramer, and Dr. Scott Maggard, for their support in this research and myself as an individual and academic. A special thank you to Dr. David Hartmann for making me think hard and long about many topics. Two of my colleagues deserve recognition, Brian Rossana and Alex Fether, for their constructive feedback during long conversations when this project was in its embryotic stage. I am sure this will not be their last contributions to my work. Also, there are several people in my personal life that need thanking. My closest friends, Greg, Chan, and John, all were there for me when I stumbled along the way, lending an ear, if nothing more than to let me vent. My girlfriend Indira offered nothing less than pure love and support for me during this trying time, but is likely relieved that it has finally come to an end. Lastly, but certainly not least, my mother who probably helped me in more ways than I will ever know. She has always placed my well-being before her own. ii Acknowledgements – Continued There are also several other individuals who have been important to me and this process. Unfortunately, there are simply too many to name here. Nevertheless, thank you to all of my family, friends, and colleagues for the endless inspiration, and thank you to those who have stood up for human rights before me. Daniel J. Patten iii © 2017 Daniel J. Patten TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES .....................................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xi LIST OF ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 NAFTA-induced Social Harms as Crime ................................................................4 International Law and the Definition of Crime and Criminogenic .................5 Theoretical Contribution to Criminology ................................................................8 Contributions to Human Rights Literature ............................................................10 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................12 Research Design.....................................................................................................13 2. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR STUDYING CRIMINOGENIC POLICIES ...................................................................................................................15 Chapter Overview ..................................................................................................15 Human Rights Violations as State Crime ..............................................................16 Failed State Logic .........................................................................................16 Social Harm as Violence ...............................................................................19 iv Table of Contents – Continued CHAPTER “A Few Bad Apples” Logic ..........................................................................20 State-Corporate Crime ...........................................................................................22 Multiple State Crime Commission? ..............................................................28 World-Systems Analysis ...............................................................................34 Policy ............................................................................................................37 Normalization of Deviance ...........................................................................40 Political Economy of Human Rights Violations ....................................................45 Social Structure of Accumulation Theory ....................................................45 Transnational Capitalist Class.......................................................................47 Summary of Analytical Framework .......................................................................49 3. REVIEW OF
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