ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the phenomenon of borderlands interdependence in an attempt to distinguish the rhetoric from the reality. It focuses on the exchange relationships that promote interdependence as well as the characteristics and motives of the parties to the exchange and reviews the current situation in the borderlands. The chapter considers longer-range trends and their implications both for the border and for the wider range of bilateral US and Mexican relations. The general phenomenon of interdependence has been fostered by international events and developments since World War II that have produced tremendous increases in the flows of information, technology, capital, people, and cultural influences across national boundaries. The broader context of United States-Mexican relations has a decidedly ambivalent effect on borderland interdependence. Despite the current blending of social and cultural influences in the borderlands, it remains to be seen whether this process will produce an organic binational, bicultural, and bilingual "Mexamerica" region.
