Mexico, U.S., and Globalization the Thesis

The agricultural issue also speaks directly to the issue of immigration, both legal and illegal, that has also been a major and complex problem between Mexico and the United States since the two countries first became neighbors. In Making Globalization Work, Joseph Stiglitz agrees with the assessment of farm subsidies that Brown provides, noting its effect on individuals in developing countries, as well: "Farmers and developing countries saw their jobs being threatened by the highly subsidized corn and other crops from the United States" (Stiglitz, 2006). As jobs decrease in developing countries, the population turns to the nearest available source of employment and income, and in Mexico this has traditionally been the United States. Immigration controls, both in increased patrol and enforcement of borders and suggested legal restrictions on the number of immigrant laborers allowed into the country each season or year, have a been a major hot-button issue off and on throughout the past century. The economic disparities caused by the unbalanced rules of globalization show up very clearly in the immigration patterns from Mexico to the United States. (Stiglitz is not against globalization, however, but instead he is strongly opposed to the way that globalization has developed. He believes that increased economic cooperation and interdependence is the most practical way to solve the global issues that the nations of the world are faced with in the twenty-first century. He maintains that the only way to effectively combat global warming is through a fair set of globally adhered-to rules, and sees a better implementation of globalization policies as almost automatically furthering this cooperation Stiglitz, 2006). This is directly tied to economic issues; if Mexico were not so disadvantaged due to the United States' policies, it might be more willing to make environmental concessions.

In his book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Thomas L. Freidman further outlines the unfairness of global warming and its uneven effects on the world, explaining how the people most prone to suffering from global warming "will be the people who caused it the least" (Freidman, 2008). Due to inferior infrastructures, less developed countries like Mexico -- especially in the rural areas -- are not and will not be as capable of adequately responding to rising heat. The United States is one of the biggest polluters in the world (almost or already surpassed by China, depending on which figures are used), yet it also has the wealth to respond to this issue. As disparities in economic and physical situation grow more and more extreme between the United States and Mexico, the influx of illegal immigrants is only going to grow. This issue, which has already been a major problem between the two countries, will only be growing during the current era of globalization and global warming.

The situations and conflicts that the United States and one of its nearest neighbors, Mexico, will be facing in the coming years are not exactly new. The changing situation in the world at large, however, is making these problems more pervasive, and will exacerbate them perhaps to the point that they become true crises. An effort at increased communication and honest cooperation on the part of the United States will go a long way to forestalling and even reversing current trends in global warming, economic disparities, and the resultant immigration issue. Only when we learn to live in a global community will globalization be…