ABSTRACT
This book’s joint analysis allows us to take stock not only of the state of North American integration, but also of the current paradigm of US economic, political and social policy. The current US paradigm is highlighted because the strengths and weaknesses of North American integration reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant policy paradigm in general. The title of the book refers precisely to the problem: while the main issues in North American integration are migration, security and development, the main obstacles to obtaining solutions is the institutional void. The institutional void, in turn, characterizes the strengths and weaknesses of the economic, political and social policy paradigm. In fact, as we shall see ahead, we could say that both the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional void are the result of implementing conservative economic and political beliefs of small government and liberalization in the democratic, market context. This is, of course, the implementation not simply of a set of philosophical beliefs, but of a set of policies shaped by economic and political interests.
