In the Twelve Years of NAFTA, the Treaty Gave to Me...What, Exactly: An Assessment of Economic, Social, and Political Developments in Mexico since 1994 and Their Impact on Mexican Immigration into the United States
![handle is hein.journals/hllr10 and id is 57 raw text is: In the Twelve Years of NAFTA,
the Treaty Gave to Me. . . What, Exactly?:
An Assessment of Economic, Social, and
Political Developments in Mexico
Since 1994 and Their Impact on
Mexican Immigration into the United States
Ranko Shiraki Oliver*
PROLOGUE
The term globalization represents one of the most contentious po-
litical issues facing the modern world.1 While most governments seem
committed (or, perhaps more accurately, resigned) to an ever-shrinking
globe in which goods, services, transnational investments, and jobs move
freely across the globe, some groups have met these policies with deter-
Associate Professor of Law, University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen
School of Law. Byron M. Eiseman Distinguished Professor of Law Philip D. Oliver made
valuable comments, for which the author is grateful. Several students at the University of
Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law made valuable contributions to
this Article. In particular, Ms. Stella Phillips provided excellent research assistance and
superb work in general throughout the writing of this Article. Mr. Jonathan Shulan provided
excellent and prompt assistance in the final editing process. Mr. Chris Madison and Ms.
Alison Applewhite also assisted in the early stages of research. Finally, I wish to acknowl-
edge the excellent work performed by Ms. Ellen Weis and her colleagues at the Harvard
Latino Law Review.
'Statements made by experts in the fields of international trade, global economics, and
international relations demonstrate this. In a 2000 interview, Michael Moore, a former director
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) stated that [gilobalization is the new 'ism' that
everyone loves to hate. Ewell E. Murphy, Jr., Charting the Transnational Dimension of
Law: U.S. Free Trade Agreements as Benchmarks of Globalization, 27 Hous. J. INT'L L.
47, 50 (2004). In his 2002 book Globalization and its Discontents, renowned economist
and Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz said that globalization has become the most press-
ing issue of our time. Id. at 50 (quoting JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, GLOBALIZATION AND ITS
DISCONTENTS 4 (2002)). In his 2002 book Does America Need a Foreign Policy?, former
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that [flor the first time in history, a single
worldwide economic system has come into being .... [Bly basing growth on interdepend-
ence, globalization has served to undermine the role of the nation-state as the sole deter-
minant of a society's well-being .... Id. at 50 (quoting HENRY KISSINGER, DOES AMER-
ICA NEED A FOREIGN POLICY? 211 (2002). Finally, in 2002, former President William J.
Clinton said that [t]he great question of this new century is whether the age of interde-
pendence is going to be good or bad for humanity. Id. at 50; see also JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
& ANDREW CHARLTON, FAIR TRADE FOR ALL: How TRADE CAN PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT
53-54 (2005) (describing protests at the November 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle, Wash-
ington).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hllr10&div=6&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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