The northern and southern borders and borderlands of the United States should have much in common; instead they offer mirror articulations of the complex relationships and engagements between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In North American Borders in Comparative Perspectiveleading experts provide a contemporary analysis of how globalization and security imperatives have redefined the shared border regions of these three nations. This volume offers a comparative perspective on North American borders and reveals the distinctive nature first of the overportrayed Mexico-U.S. border and then of the largely overlooked Canada-U.S. border. The perspectives on either border are rarely compared. Essays in this volume bring North American borders into comparative focus; the contributors advance the understanding of borders in a variety of theoretical and empirical contexts pertaining to North America with an intense sharing of knowledge, ideas, and perspectives. Adding to the regional analysis of North American borders and borderlands, this book cuts across disciplinary and topical areas to provide a balanced, comparative view of borders. Scholars, policy makers, and practitioners convey perspectives on current research and understanding of the United States’ borders with its immediate neighbors. Developing current border theories, the authors address timely and practical border issues that are significant to our understanding and management of North American borderlands. The future of borders demands a deep understanding of borderlands and borders. This volume is a major step in that direction. Contributors Bruce Agnew Donald K. Alper Alan D. Bersin Christopher Brown Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly Irasema Coronado Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera Michelle Keck Victor Konrad Francisco Lara-Valencia Tony Payan Kathleen Staudt Rick Van Schoik Christopher Wilson

This book highlights the necessity of analyzing Latin American society and politics within broad comparative frameworks. It explores methodological strategies for regional comparison and offers new approaches to the study of women, state power, corporatism, and political culture.

Does the achievement of economic equality in a multiethnic society require the complete loss of a minority's cultural identity? Beyond Aztlan argues that American society has historically viewed a distinctive cultural identity as something that an ethnic group gives up in order to achieve economic and political parity. Mexican Americans, who have scored limited gains in their struggle for equality since the 1940s, are proving to be no exception to the rule. However, Barrera compares the situation of Mexican Americans to that of minority groups in four other countries and concludes that equality does not necessarily require assimilation.

The contributors identify the increasing differences in income and social status between rich and poor, Anglos and Latinos, men and women, immigrant and native born, and suggest policy options that will reverse the growth of social inequality. National data as well as a series of case studies from important Latino cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Chicago and Miami are presented.