ABSTRACT
The ways in which Australia, Canada and Mexico have historically been integrated into the world economy were analysed in the first set of chapters on each country in this volume. These analyses demonstrated how, from their beginnings, each country was deeply influenced by its relationship to the dominant imperial powers and especially by the trading relationships that were established in these periods. During much of the twentieth century, all three countries sought to strategically integrate into the international economy while promoting forms of ‘national development’. In Australia, this took the form of the ‘Australian Settlement’ in which labour was able to play an important, if secondary, role. In Canada, labour was weaker. Although the post-1945 development of the welfare state was more advanced in Canada than in the USA, Canada's openness to foreign direct investment reduced its autonomy and fractured the capitalist class between its domestic and foreign components. In Mexico, the state-led model of development dominated with a domestic bourgeoisie receiving its support.
