Georgetown University Trilateral Partnership with
Carleton
University in Ottawa, Canada and Instituto
Tecnológico Autónomo de México
The main goals
of this project are: (1) to strengthen teaching and research capabilities
of participating faculty from Carleton University, Georgetown University,
and Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
( ITAM) on topics of hemispheric trade, (2) to establish a NAFTA Studies
Program, and (3) to inform students, policymakers, politicians and
businessmen in the three member countries about the implications and
importance of regional free trade. Other key features of the project
include curriculum development and an annual NAFTA Student Seminar
bringing together American, Canadian and Mexican students hosted on
a rotating basis by one of the three partner institutions. The project,
funded in FY95, will be completed by August 1999.
Over the years
the NAFTA fora have provided a dynamic space where some of the most
important regional events affecting the prospects for continued trade
and integration have been addressed. In each NAFTA member country,
experts in relevant fields have lectured audiences of policy makers,
business people, academics, and students. In 1995, for example, before
support was granted by USIA, the NAFTA Student Seminar in Mexico City
served as a focal point to exchange ideas and opinions with the public
and private sectors in Mexico. The over-riding theme was the progress
made by Mexico in overcoming the 1994-1995 peso crisis. The North
American Labor Side Agreement was also assessed. In Canada a year
later, the seminar addressed problems of countervailing duties and
of cultural issues. In 1997, the NAFTA Seminar was held in Washington,
D.C. At this time discussion centered around NAFTA in the context
of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, and on hemispheric trade
in the multilateral and global contexts. Back in Mexico in 1998, the
focus of the seminar was the role of NAFTA and trade in Mexico's economic
recovery. The most recent one in April 1999 returned to Carleton University,
coinciding with the trilateral trade ministerial meeting of the three
NAFTA member states. This seminar assessed NAFTA after five years
and looked ahead to the next five years. A highlight was a breakfast
meeting with the NAFTA Trade Ministers at which one student from each
institution reported on topics covered during the week's sessions.
The Ministers responded to questions on a range of issues.
(Participants
in the Georgetown University Trilateral NAFTA Program)
Each year, with
support from their institutions, six to eight students are included
as participants in these annual NAFTA Student Seminar. They are selected
through a rigorous and competitive process. After four years of this
project close to 100 students have participated. According to the
U.S. project director, Dr. John Bailey, the Student Seminars constitute
an important highlight of students' educational experiences.
In the words
of one participant from Carleton University in the NAFTA Student Seminar
in Mexico City: "...I consider it a very valuable and wide-ranging
education experience. NAFTA issues and problems with North American
integration were put forth and advanced in a diverse setting that
far exceeded any standard NAFTA classes or seminars. I became much
more aware and conscious of national differences and sensitivities
that were often apparent when examining a certain issue or topic.
I was exposed to the third side of NAFTA, the Mexican angle that few
Canadians are aware of or understand. While Mexico is very different,
it is still a developing country with its unique cultural, economy
and society, there are many similarities between Canada and Mexico,
especially with our relationship relative to the U.S..."
Furthermore,
students have reported that the NAFTA seminar has made their job search
easier.
In addition
to the above-mentioned activities organized by the partner institutions,
classrooms from ITAM and Carleton were linked on eight occasions in
one semester. During this time, students in Mexico and Canada followed
the same course curriculum and used the e-mail to work on their group
assignments.
Other institutional
benefits:
Curriculum
development
Faculty
are exchanging syllabi and reading lists for their classes as well
as providing information to assess course revision and development
of case studies.
Teaching methodology
Team
teaching is now a norm in the partnership. During the spring of 1998
and again during the spring of 2000, faculty from Carleton, ITAM and
Texas A&M Universities are offering a trilateral course on NAFTA.
Other institutional
benefits and spin-off activities include an increased interest in
hemispheric trade issues reflected in Georgetown's partnership with
the Trade Unit of the Organization of American States and the World
Trade Organization to offer advanced training seminars for trade officials
in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Research
Individual
faculty participants have undertaken research projects. Research projects
have also served
as supporting materials for classroom teaching and as reference materials
for policy makers in the three countries. Examples of single authored
and collaborative research include the:
-Mexican auto
and auto-parts industries (Dr. Molot, Carleton University)
-Bombardier's
unsuccessful bid for a contract to build subway cars for Mexico City's
second subway line (Dr. Molot, Carleton University)
-Reconstruction
from a game-theoretic approach of the NAFTA negotiations as viewed
from the perspective
of each of the three countries (Dr. Max Cameron, Carleton University)
-Economic security
and financial turbulence in the Post-NAFTA era (Dr. Max Cameron, Carleton
University)
-Subregional
effects of accelerated trade and economic integration between the
United States and Mexico (Dr. John Bailey, Georgetown University)
-Relationship between organized crime and democratic governance in
Mexico and the U.S.-Mexican borderlands (Dr. John Bailey, Georgetown
University)
-Mexico's ongoing
telecommunications privatization and deregulation and its impact on
North American
economic restructuring and corporate strategy (Prof. Jonathan Doh,
Georgetown University)
-Mexico's limited
opening of the electricity generation industry as a strategy to meet
the country's growing energy needs and the impact of this process
on North American independent power companies (Prof. Jonathan Doh,
Georgetown)
-Resolution
of the Cozumel pier environmental case, an issue brought to the North
American Commission
on Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA institution created by the Supplemental
Agreement
on Environmental Cooperation (Prof. Jonathan Doh, Georgetown)
-The institutionalization
process in U.S. Mexican Relations in the areas of trade, environment
and labor affairs (Dr. Rafael de Castro, Instituto Technologico Autonomo
de Mexico)
-Comparison
of Mexican and Canadian Banking systems examining market developments
and regulatory
methods (Dr. Duncan Wood, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo
de México)
-Federalism
and Economic Integration: The Quebec Controversy (Dr. John Kline,
Georgetown University)
During these
four years, participating institutions have received additional funding
for NAFTA-related research projects from public and private institutions,
which include the Hewlet Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada, the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade, the International Motor Vehicle Program of MIT,
and the Ford Foundation-Mexico.
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