ABSTRACT
This chapter specifies certain elements of convergence, the research program's main problematique, in order to adapt it to the subject under study. It observes the way in which Canada and the United States dealt with the issue of control over their common border, from the establishment of North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to the events of September 11, 2001. The chapter focuses on the relations between Canada and the United States. It describes that research revealed little or no trilateral convergence, thus indicating that the two bilateral dynamics evolve alongside each other but that the principle underlying them is distinct. American public discourse was at the time still strongly tinged with references to economic prosperity, with Griffin drawing an explicit link between trade and border security.
