ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three security related bilateral relationships between United States and Mexico, Mexico and Canada, and Canada and the United States. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) per se does not encourage integration of policies for the articles dealing with national security outline exceptions that allow national priorities to prevail. The chapter explores the question raised by the integration of North American security policies by postulating that security in North America is dominated by the United States. Based on realists' theoretical conclusions, the author hypothesizes that, contrary to other policy fields explored elsewhere, security policymaking has not been influenced by NAFTA. The security policy making environment remains solidly in the bilateral framework, and then the NAFTA multilateral influence will remain questionable. In accordance with the general research question, the chapter looks at NAFTA's potential influence over security and defense policies.
