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Borders Matter Homeland Security, Borders and the Search for North America Borders Matter Homeland Security, Borders and the Search for North America Daniel Drache Fernwood Publishing • Halifax, Nova Scotia Th is book is dedicated to my father, who taught me much about the staying power of the Great Border “Th ere is no worse fl aw in man’s character than that of wanting to belong.” —David Adams Richards, from Mercy Among the Children “Perhaps people in the world are kinder everywhere than maps of the words would lead you to believe.” —William Boyd, from Any Human Heart TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ......................................................................................................... IV 1. BORDERS PERMEABLE AND IMPERMEABLE: CANADA’S IMMEDIATEMMEDIATE DILEMMAILEMMA ... Th e Clash of Sovereignties ................................................................ 1 A Second Hinge Moment ................................................................. 2 Goods and People Face a Diff erent Future ........................................ 4 Unilateralism and the Security-First Border ...................................... 5 Th e Protective Moat or Canada’s Civic Identity? ............................... 6 Th e Good Neighbour Syndrome: Weakness or Strength? .................. 7 Imperial Right and Wrong: A World without Favour ........................ 7 Inside North America: Separate and Parallel ..................................... 8 Borders in a Free Trade Era ............................................................... 8 Divergence and Not Straight-Line Convergence ............................... 9 2. A STELLAR DECADE FOR BORDERS:BUT DO THEY MATTER ANY LONGER? ... 11 Crossing the Undefended Canada-US Border: So Much Anxiety Still ....................................................................... 11 Patching the Leaks of Sovereignty ..................................................... 11 Designing the Imperialist Border by Accidental Intent ..................... 12 North American Myth-Making and the Border ................................ 13 Th e Artifi ce of the Great Map of North America: Drawing Lines and Evoking the Imperial Interest ............................. 13 Joining the Dots on the Map: Th e Divine Right of Kings ................. 14 Fixing the Border Forever ................................................................. 14 Internal Boundaries Are Also Vast but Diff erent in One Critical Aspect .................................................16 Th e First Postmodern Border ............................................................16 When the Border Mattered: Culture as Quasi-Sovereignty ............... 17 Th e Particularities of our Two Borders: Comparing Visa Entry Forms ...........................................................17 Th e US Border as a National Institution ...........................................18 Th e Restless US Frontier .................................................................... 18 When the Border Doesn’t Matter ..................................................... 19 When Culture Crosses the Border: Canada’s Un-American Narrative ...................................................... 20 3. TIPPING POINT: THE NEW POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY ..................................... 21 Th e Regional Lock-In ....................................................................... 22 North America’s Nation-Centred Regionalism .................................. 23 An Historical Puzzle: US Development and Locational Choices .........................................24 Failed American Regions and the Race to Be Competitive ................ 25 America’s Postmodern Narrative of La Frontera ................................ 25 Canada as Ethno-History: America’s Blind Spot ............................... 25 Citizenship, Identity and Markets .................................................... 26 Global Cultural Flows and the Transformation of Canada ................ 27 Th e End of Welfare as We Knew It ................................................... 27 Th e New Contract with America ...................................................... 29 Borders Matter | Daniel Drache I Income Security and Economic Integration: Adding Up the Numbers .................................................................. 30 What Do the Causal Arrows Tell Us? ................................................ 31 4. THE CASE FOR BUILDING A NORTH AMERICAN COMMUNITY: IS THERE ONE? ............................................................................................... 67 Th e Search for Consensus ................................................................. 67 Expanding the US Side of the Border ................................................ 68 In Search of North America .............................................................. 69 A Big Idea without Policy Legs ......................................................... 69 A Decade of Free Trade: Uncertainty and Instability ......................... 71 Predictions So Wide of the Mark ...................................................... 73 Active Localisms against Supranational North America ..................... 75 Too Many Th ou Shalt Nots: Privileging US Interests ......................... 76 Legal Access: No Guarantee against a Protectionist Congress ............ 78 Chapter 11’s Win-Loss Record ......................................................... 79 North America’s Public Interest at Risk ............................................ 80 Comparing NAFTA RulesRules to OtherOther LegalLegal Regimes:Regimes: Are Th ey up to Standard? ........................................................................ 81 Defi ning North America as a Community ....................................... 83 North America’s Culture of Active Localisms with a Strong National Bent ............................................................. 84 Th e Future of North America as a Social Entity ................................ 86 5. THE SECURITY-FIRST BORDER: A NORTH AMERICAN QUANDARY ................. 88 Th e End of the Undefended Border and Continental Destiny .......... 88 Th e Post-9/11 Security-First Border ................................................. 89 Asymmetry, Political Will and Destiny ............................................. 91 Th e Bush Security Doctrine and Diplomacy: Th e US Shield of the Twenty-fi rst Century ........................................ 92 It Is Not a Question of Liking Us ..................................................... 93 Entry-Exit Regulations at the Border ................................................ 95 Minimal Tolerance for the Best Neighbour ....................................... 97 Th e Immigration Police, Tough New Rules and More Discretion Th an Ever ........................... 98 Asymmetry, Power and Fate: Globalization and the End of Borders Narrative ............................... 100 Spillovers and Relative Sovereignty ................................................... 102 Protecting the US Nation: Neighbourliness a Scarce Commodity ...... 105 Public Authority Against Private Markets ......................................... 106 Th e Authentic Border ....................................................................... 107 6. ACTIVE LOCALISMS: SEEING BEYOND ONE’S HOMEOME ANDAND NATIVEATIVE LANDAND ......... 110 Identity, Place, Citizenship and Modernity ....................................... 110 Social Space and Border Eff ects: Th e Most Critical Dimension of All ................................................. 112 Political Refugees and the 9/11 Security Border ............................... 115 Canada’s Best Face? ........................................................................... 117 Borders Matter | Daniel Drache II EPILOGUE: THE BLIND SPOT OF CULTURAL DISTINCTIVENESS ............................ 120 Th e Diversity beneath Our Skins ...................................................... 120 Active Localisms, a Rooted Globalism and the Continent’s Political Bureaucracies ...................................... 123 APPENDIX: HINGE MOMENTS: A SHORT CHRONOLOGY OF THE CANADA-US Border and National Boundaries ................................. 125 ENDNOTE ....................................................................................................... 135 A NOTE ON SOURCES ...................................................................................... 150 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... 154 ALSO WRITTEN OR EDITED BY DANIEL DRACHE (AND OTHERS) ......................... 157 INDEX ............................................................................................................ 158 Borders Matter | Daniel Drache III Preface Preamble Borders Until September 11, 2001, Canadians had not thought very much or very hard about the long border they share with the US. Nor had public authorities shown signifi cant concern. Th ere was no compelling imperative to contemplate it, particularly in this global age. Ideas passed through it, money poured over it and millions of people crossed it each year. Post–September 11, the border has changed beyond recognition. It is everywhere and everything. Issues now include enhanced security, protection of privacy rights, who we want as citizens, how cross-border traffi c can be expedited and how open the border should be to political refugees. In fact, the world’s longest undefended border was never unimportant. It has always been at centre stage in North America in the exercise of power and international cooperation. Arguably, Canadians and Americans
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