re-due Politics assignment
Nerd23
polsmexicoassingmnetredue.docx
BOOK REPORT ON THE THREE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER WARS: DRUGS, IMMIGRATION, AND HOMELAND SECURITY
Politics Of Mexcio
Book Report on The three U.S.-Mexico border wars: drugs, immigration, and homeland security
There is a lot of international attention that is being given to the topic of violence and corruption in Mexico as a result of its law enforcement association with the cartel. In this relation, Tony Payan has managed to write the book “The three U.S.-Mexico border wars: drugs, immigration, and homeland security” that provides the readers with a comprehendible and comprehensive information about the background of the conflict and the likely effects (2012). In particular, he manages this through the production of this short book that offers a lot of details on all these information.
In particular, this book is written to provide the history on the need for elevated security along the Mexican border. It is with the provision of these details that a revelation is made in relation to the reason why corruption at the U. S-Mexican border has increased as well as the reason why Mexico is now suffering due to the cartels that have been established at the border. From the time that the United States experienced the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, many of the towns and cities across the Southwestern side of the U.S experienced the consequences of the new security in the U.S that is oriented towards the practices and ethos first hand.
This was a result of the actions by the government to enhance the securities mainly at the border. It is indicated that the first priority was to make the border areas safe through the prevention of illegal entry which was enhanced by the strict scrutiny of those getting in especially through the U.S. Mexican border. These are among the aspects that are embodied within the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Mainly, it is brought about by the need for its implementation along the 2100 miles that are found along the border between U.S and Mexico. In the past, there was the optimistic talk that was related to investment, trade, and the economic integration in the 1990s in the North America. This has provided a lot of focus on the rhetoric that emphasizes the need for security and in particular, the need to secure all the points of entry as well as exit points in the United States. It is this strategy that is meant to provide comprehensive security that permeates the three major wars at the border. These are mainly the war on drugs, the need for the enforcement of the immigration laws and the war on terror (Turbiville, 2010).
Payan (2012) indicates that there have been major effects associated with the three wars that take place on the border land. These have been very significant since they include the loss of the local autonomy. In addition to this, there have been various conflicts between the priorities that exist in Washington and those among the local population. This has led to the development of a rigid international line, which represents some of the barriers to social, cultural and economic integration among the communities through the high level of corruption and cartels among the law enforcement officers has also become a major problem. For this reason, these wars have become a great source of fear and have also caused suspicion between the two neighbors. In this case, it provides an opportunity for the author to trace the history for the policies that are enacted at the border that help in the discernment and the understanding of the evolutionary patterns that are common and help in joining the three policies that exist today together as shown by Kellner and Pipitone (2010). In his argument, he states that there has been the gradual tightening and the increase of militarized activities at the border throughout its history. It is these that have led to the restrictive laws that are present at the border today. For this reason, the author makes it clear that the changes that have taken place in relation to the law enforcement officers are drastic and have the potential of causing problems not only to the Mexicans but to the United States as well (Kan, 2012). Therefore, it is important that the relevant and fast measures are taken as soon as possible to curb the issue and to place the border activities to their initial state where the Mexicans will no longer live in fear of the presented effects. Therefore, the book makes an attempt to show the different ways that the residents at the border are suffering and trying to cope with the strict security that is maintained at the border and the environment that is filed with the newly formed cartels. It also makes the effort to navigate through their daily lives with the massive increase in the number of federal bureaucrats and the many programs that have been designed to close the border. In particular, it provide an examination of the evaluation efforts done towards the understanding of the significant conflict that exists between the efforts of the government to close the borders and those of the communities that live at the border to open it.
Through a detailed explanation and elaboration, the book offers an explanation for the reason that makes the issue about the U.S-Mexico border a hot topic both for the two countries as well as in other places around the world. In particular, through the exploration of the focus on the policy that exists in the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks he reveals that this idea is also a contentious one. It is in this regard that through this book, the readers are brought up to date in relation to the happenings that are being experienced at the U.S –Mexico border and their causes. The author effectively provides a detailed examination of the evolution of the activities at the border that have resulted to the current conditions based on the concise historical factors. According to him, he provides the argument that the factors are a result of the steady growth that has been present due to the security concerns that have been held by the United states for over two centuries. In this way, it becomes possible for Payan to show that the activities at the border have gone through several historical stages that eventually have led to the crippling of the region in the form of the numerous cartels in which the law enforcement officers are involved to make the residents of the region suffer in fear. In essence, the four stages have resulted to the sacrifice on the ability by the people at the border to be prosperous in exchange for their greater security.
The author manages to combine breadth and depth to cover the economic relationship that exists between the United States and Mexico through the ability to deploy technology and to cater for the bureaucratic interests they control the landscape at the border, the deficit that exists in the democratic space and the detrimental lack of coordination of the policies. He explores a number of the issues that affect the area such as drug trafficking and the homeland security which is also considered. Moreover, the book also demonstrates the contradictory logic that is found within the internal aspects of the American policy that is established to cater for the border activities. In this relation, he provides the argument that the current conditions are likely to cause the return of the authoritarian rule in Mexico and the concurrent rise of the sentiments against the Americans (Kan, 2012).
Payan (2016) indicates that there were presidents in the United States and Mexico who knew each other and had formed partnerships together before the September 11 attacks. In particular, he shows that this was the time when Bush was the Governor of Texas. Therefore, both George W. Bush and Vicente Fox were involved in the economic activities and the human costs that would be realized following the delays at the border. It is for this reason that they made an effort to implement the idea of having an open border that would be related to the aspect that was raised by the European community in order to enhance the integration efforts of their economies. However, after the attacks, there was a wayside demolition and fall of the walls. This was because of the opinion by the United States that there was need for more control regarding the border and its activities in order to stop any likely terrorist, the trafficking of illegal drugs as well as immigrants. In a methodological way, Payan picks out this policy separately and highlights the related folly and the wasted resources that are directed towards this effort. In his conclusion, he states that the policies in the United States are leading to hostility towards its neighbors and thus ending up in the detrimental economies of both countries. This may means that the efforts being put up are futile since the United States has not been able to stop the war on drugs by stopping their flow. He therefore concludes that the war on drugs only acts to enhance the situation as is also expressed by Kellner and Pipitone (2010).
References
Kan, R. P. (2012). Cartels at War: Mexico’s Drug-Fueled Violence and the Threat to US National Security. New York: Potomac books.
Payan, T. (2016). The Three US-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security. ABC-CLIO.
Kellner, T., & Pipitone, F. (2010). Inside México's drug war. World Policy Journal, 27(1), 29 37.
Turbiville Jr, G. H. (2010). Firefights, raids, and assassinations: tactical forms of cartel violence and their underpinnings. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 21(1), 123-144.
I’m sorry to take so long to get comments back to you, in part because I think your draft needs a good bit of work. First of all, drop the formalities of a cover page and page break for references. This is just a draft of what I refer to as a report, not a formal paper. Second, you should right at the start, in introducing your topic or question, give a little overview of the best sources you’ve found and say something about why you selected these or what, in general terms, they have to contribute. Then you can spend the rest of the report taking the sources in turn, properly introducing them (meaning something about their form and something about the author/s, if possible) and ideally even saying something about *their* sources (what sort of data or info, if that seems relevant). If the sources you discuss differ in some way, or reinforce each other, or supply different pieces of a larger picture, you should make those observations. Finally, if a coherent picture emerges from pulling these sources together, tell the reader about that, but if there are unanswered questions worth pointing out, you should do so.
