Apart from courses on NAFTA and North American integration, this essay could bring “North American” content and enhance theoretical discussions in courses in the following subjects:

Political Science

• International Political Economy: units on trade liberalization and regional economic integration, globalization; particularly useful for discussing how trade and transportation are still closely linked, and how regional economic systems are built via infrastructure and via the political power of interest groups, as well as broader structural contextual variables such as geography or the broader patterns in the national and global economies.

• Globalization/Global Issues: Transportation and infrastructure are issues that are not looked at closely enough in this area, which tends to focus on how the Internet has made political organizing across borders via “global civil society” possible, challenging more nation-state-bound forms of interest articulation. Brooks’ piece notes that business plays both sides of the pro- and anti-free trade street, with those wanting into a market seeking to tear down barriers, while those benefiting from protection seeking to retain their privileges, often using the cover of such normative arguments such as environmental protection. It also discusses issues of sovereignty and jurisdiction, noting that national boundaries between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico still matter and exact a real economic cost on transregional business flows. It also discusses the issue of harmonization, which is a politically loaded issue in national contexts where sovereignty and policy autonomy are viewed as sacred values that national governments must protect. This can also play into a unit on “Whither the Nation-State?” as Brooks makes an impassioned plea for “the state” to step up and provide the infrastructure that the private sector needs to grow the economy – not the kind of argument that is often associated with a pro-NAFTA stance, but one that students may benefit from considering.

• Specialized Courses on Borders and Transborder Studies: Brooks’ brief look at the confusion and controversy over allowing non-nationals to drive cargo across borders in North America can be an interesting starting point for a discussion of what borders mean, who controls them, what happens physically at the border in terms of trade and migration, and their economic costs.