Mexico and United States: The Politics, Mediocrity, and Political Correctness of Partnership

[Tom Barry]

Little here about "border wars." Yet in looking for a path forward away from wars and fears and toward a new international partnership there is little here in this small volume of collected essays, other an an ironing out of academic papers cobbled together into a book that is so dull that it has you wishing for the end of the foundation-funded collegial binational cooperation and the beginning of some rigorous debate. If partnership is to come, it won't be so much a product of this type of academic love-in, but more inspired, citizen-driven thinking and action --- of which there is already plenty and you can't miss the stirring in both countries for more. 

Should one have expected more from Peter Smith and Andrew Selee? I don't know, probably not. Surely, Obama and Peña Nieto won't be leading the way forward. Obama may be more elegant than anything that appears in this book, but he goes to Mexico with such shallow understanding and also with such baggage (which he willingly carries) of commitments to border security, border fences, drones, drug wars, and his very own "combat against transnational crime." And when it comes to shallow about international relations (and most everything else), PN's gloss is PR, and little more.

Mexico and the United States: The Politics of Partnership

President Obama is set to meet President Peña Nieto in Mexico on May 2 to discuss the state of binational relations and ways to extend the generally amicable partnership that has been building over the past two decades.

Widely respected Mexico scholars Peter Smith (Latin America Studies professor at UC-San Diego) and Andrew Selee (founder and director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center) address the dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico partnership in a new edited volume, Mexico and the United States: The Politics of Partnership (Lynne Rienner, 2013). 

The book comes with the many problems of edited volumes: uninspired (dull) writing, stale analysis, absent themes (social networks, globalizing culture, implications of structural economic integration of production across three nations, border policy, changing political dynamics in Mexico, etc.) and halting and half-formed attempts at integrated analysis.

The politically correct format of having coauthors for each chapter – Mexican and U.S. – has the predictable effect of blunting provocative points of view and conclusions about the obstacles and prospects of partnership.

There is a formulaic, dull unity to the book, and I searched unsuccessfully for a few examples of inspired analysis, elegantly presented insights, and anything memorable.

Several of the chapters do serve as helpful summaries of the current conditions and trends in the topics addressed, notably the chapter by Luis Astorga and David Shirk on “Drugs, Crime and Violence; and the “Protecting the Environment?” chapter by Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez and Stephen Mumme.  But for observers of binational relations and these themes, there is nothing new. Perhaps this serves – and was cynically designed – as a book to assign undergraduate students. Certainly, it is not a notable contribution to our understanding of binational relations and the incipient policy debate about the future of the U.S.-Mexico partnership.

The concluding chapter by Smith and Selee is distinguished only by its dry language, insipid tone, predictable summations, and uninspired vision. In their concluding sentence, these leading thinkers about U.S. –Mexico leave us with this synthesis of their vision of the path forward: “The basic requirement for both Mexico and the United States is the exertion of political will. That would lay the foundation for a truly meaningful partnership.” Good thinking, boys.

Perhaps what we need, as well, is new leadership in U.S.-Mexico studies – scholars, thinkers, and visionaries who would seek out rigorous (and contentious if need be) policy dialog and who would bring to the table a more grounded understanding of Mexico, the border, and binational aspirations. Not, what, in contrast, apparently issues from polite partnership talk in DC conferences and at trendy Coyoacán and Roma cafés in Mexico City.  

Otherwise, a book about such a timely and important topic might as well be assigned to a computer capable of compiling and integrating the previous writings and presentations of these contributors and editors.