Following the acclaimed Uncle Sam and Us and the influential Does North America Exist? Stephen Clarkson — the preeminent analyst of North America's political economy — and Matto Mildenberger turn continental scholarship on its head by showing how Canada and Mexico contribute to the United States' wealth, security, and global power.
This provocative work documents how Canada and Mexico offer the United States open markets for its investments and exports, massive flows of skilled and unskilled labour, and vast resource inputs— all of which boost its size and competitiveness — more than does any other US partner. They are also Uncle Sam's most important allies in supporting its anti-terrorist and anti-narcotics security. Clarkson and Mildenberger explain the paradox of these two countries' simultaneous importance and powerlessness by showing how the US government has systematically neutralized their potential influence.
Detailing the dynamics of North America's power relations, Dependent America? is a fitting conclusion to Clarkson's celebrated trilogy on the contradictory qualities of its regionalism — asymmetrical economic integration, thickened borders, and emasculated governance.