International Political Economy Series Transnational Activism in North America

“As the top-down North American economic regional integration project begun decades ago deteriorates in the face of US tariffs and threats to Canadian and Mexican sovereignty, this timely collection reveals the alternative, bottom-up building of multi-scalar transnational activism for labor, indigenous, migrant, women’s, human, and ecological rights across the region.” --Anne Sisson Runyan, Professor Emerita, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Cincinnati, USA As Trump-induced fractures of the North American region continue over the coming years to undermine prospects for cooperation, this book highlights how transnational civil society initiatives will be critical to the character and endurance of regional ties that can benefit people and communities across Mexico, the United States, and Canada” --Eric Hershberg, Professor Emeritus, Department of Government and Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, American University, Washington, DC This open access book brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to examine how North American civil society organizations have actively mobilized within and across borders in response to the tumultuous social and economic changes in the region since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Contributors from the three countries address the implications of recent changes in areas such trade, labour, migration and human rights. They draw on a rich and varied set of empirical case studies to detail the opportunities and constraints that activists have encountered as they navigate a changing landscape marked by the renegotiation of NAFTA, Trump’s threats to build a US-Mexico border wall, the COVID-19 pandemic and continued restrictions on migration. The contributors highlight organizing strategies, the potential for new alliances and pose critical questions about the nature of transnational activism in the current conjuncture. Laura Macdonald, Professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Canada. Christina Gabriel, Professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Canada. Jeffrey Ayres, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Global Engagement at Saint Michael’s College, USA. This open access book brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to examine how North American civil society organizations have actively mobilized within and across borders in response to the tumultuous social and economic changes in the region since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Contributors from the three countries address the implications of recent changes in areas such trade, labour, migration and human rights. They draw on a rich and varied set of empirical case studies to detail the opportunities and constraints that activists have encountered as they navigate a changing landscape marked by the renegotiation of NAFTA, Trump’s threats to build a US-Mexico border wall, the COVID-19 pandemic and continued restrictions on migration. The contributors highlight organizing strategies, the potential for new alliances and pose critical questions about the nature of transnational activism in the current conjuncture.