Introduction
The inevitability of globalization in our modern times brought into the forefront multinational companies (MNCs) that support foreign policies that bridge national borders and create new avenues of interdependence among states. At present, people are attuned to hearing several integrations that formed over the years – European Union (EU), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Central America Free Trade Agreement and more. More than just trade agreements, these international blocs have effects of information technologies that operate globally and regionally across state boundaries without formal political structures and supranational influences compete for influence with the sovereign state. This is why Goldstein and Pevehouse (2006) explained that “theory of international integration can help to explain these developments, which challenge once again the foundations of realism (state sovereignty and territorial integrity)”. They defined international integration as “the process by which supranational institutions replace national ones—the gradual shifting upward of sovereignty from state to regional or global structures” and “the ultimate expression of integration would be the merger of several (or many) states into a single state—or ultimately into a single world government”. Thus, when integration is sealed, there can also be “a shift in sovereignty to the supranational level would probably entail some version of federalism, in which states or other political units recognize the sovereignty of a central government while retaining certain powers for themselves”.
Main
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is one of the most controversial regional integration because it has yet to prove that maintaining it would bring more benefits than liabilities. Approved in the US Congress in 1994, NAFTA the agreement went into effect 1 January 1994 (OAS, 2008). The main goal of NAFTA is to build a framework for North American countries to ease out the trade barriers in order to promote a steady flow of exported and imported goods in the area. Aside from allaying the barriers that hamper trade among the three countries, NAFTA also aims to achieve a wider avenue for the trade of services and in foreign investment. Another important purpose of NAFTA is to permit the three countries to cooperate and coordinate on environmental and labor issues. However, problems began to arise when environmental and labor concerns in this agreement became convoluted. Critics began to scoff NAFTA to be promoting inequality to the region. They also revealed that there are trade policies that are questionable that could be proven to be detrimental in the long term perspective.
For example, Jubasz (2004) revealed that the most reliable data available demonstrated how economic globalization of trade like NAFTA has caused the most dramatic increase in global inequality and poverty in modern history. Globalization of trade had only benefited the countries with bigger economies to dominate over economically-challenged countries. The policies of economic globalization such as free trade, financial liberalization, deregulation, reduced government spending, and privatization had concentrated wealth at the top. It had tried to removed from Third World governments and communities the very tools needed to ensure equity and to protect workers, social services, the environment, and sustainable livelihoods. In this way, economic globalization and its institutions—including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization (WTO, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have created the most dramatic increase in global inequality—both within and between nations—in modern history and have increased global poverty. With this, a research that weighs the achievements versus the failure of NAFTA would answer the question of whether this particular regional integration has been effective or not. Did it meet its objectives or did it just worsen the economic gap of its member nations? What would be the appropriate amendments that should be made in order for it to be successful in the future or is it a hopeless case that needs to be scrapped? These are just some of the questions that my chosen research will seek to enlighten.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Joshua S and Jon C. Pevehouse. International Relations (7th Ed). New York, NY: Pearson & Longman Publishers, 2006.
Jubasz, Antonia. “Globalization Is Making World Poverty Worse.” In Balkin, K. (ed.), Poverty. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004.
Organization of American States (OAS). NAFTA. 2007. Web.