UNI320Y: Canadian Questions:
Issues and Debates
Week 12: Transnational Citizenship
Professor Emily Gilbert
http://individual.utoronto.ca/emilygilbert/
Transnational Citizenship
I.
A North American Community?
II. Transnational Politics and Citizenship
III. Conclusions
I: A North American Community?
Jennifer Welsh
 Professor of International
Relations, Oxford University
 Born Regina, Saskatchewan
 Metis background
 B.A. from University of
Saskatchewan; then Rhodes
Scholar at Oxford, where she
received MA and PhD
 Consultant to Paul Martin
government on new foreign
policy
 “We should conceive of
Canada not in traditional
terms, as a middle power,
but as a citizen in the
world of nation-states. In
fact, I believe Canada has
the potential to be a model
citizen for the 21st
century”
Can compare North America to Europe?
 European citizenship
 1970s+: idea for common European identity
 1976: elections in European Parliament
 1981: move to uniform passport
 1984-1992: shift to common market
 1992: Maastricht Treaty: European Union
 1992+
 Address common identity and democratic deficit
 1997: Treaty of Amsterdam
 2004 Constitution (rejected in French and Dutch
referenda 2005)
 Can’t compare NA to Europe
 Asymmetry of power
 US exceptionalism
 No North American grand purpose
But can take two lessons from Europe:
 European citizenship did not require strong
or unified European identity
 Economic market making leads to strong
pressures for democraticization
Is a NA community viable?
 Significant cross-border co-operation
 Limited provisions for public participation
or citizenship
 But vague sense of shared norms and
purposes
 Little aspiration for political union or
citizen equality across the region
 Some interest from Mexico
 More open cross-border mobility
 Some interest from Canada
 Strengthen economic relationship with US
 But Canadian perspective more “Can-global”
 As world citizens; civil society activism
 US: Post 9/11 protectionism
 Homeland security and defense
 Concerns regarding population mobility
 Should consider how to ensure more
legitimacy in NAFTA
 More transparency and options for public
participation
 Enhance rule of law in North America
 But what about NAFTA-plus: a new “big
idea”
 Customs union
 Common market
 Currency union
Security and Prosperity Partnership
of North America
 Signed March 23, 2005
 Interest in regional cooperation
and concerns about global
competition
 Aims are
 to make region safe and secure
 to ensure businesses are competitive,
economies are resilient
 to ameliorate quality of life
 Expands on earlier bilateral and
trilateral agreements



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Economic cooperation; eg autos
Harmonization of external tariffs
Regulatory cooperation; eg energy
Pre-clearance programs and biometrics
Report to Leaders, June 2005—had 90 days to report on
their progress on:
Prosperity:
 Electronic commerce
 Liberalization of rules of origin
 Commercial products re public health and safety
 Textiles and apparel labelling
 Temporary worker entry, for professionals
 Migratory species and biodiversity
 Harmonized approach to BSE
 Border flow analysis
 Aviation safety
 Airspace capacity
 Harmonized air navigation systems
Security:
 NTC-NRAC exchange
 Public safety along US-Mexico border
 Progress on Windsor-Detroit 25% challenge
 Expanding infrastructure at Nogales, Arizona
 Science and technology cooperation
 Nexus marine pilot
 Pre-clearance site at Thousand Islands
Bridge
 WCO framework
 Joint initial verification team examinations
 Port security exercises
 SPP also includes quality of life issues
 The environment, eg clean air and water
 Education, especially higher education
 Science and technology, eg innovation
 Health, eg Aboriginal peoples
 Appeals to “citizens” or “the people” being
“protected,” “responded to,” “invested in,”
their “full potential” promoted
 Rationalized in terms of a shared belief in
freedom, economic opportunity, and strong
democratic values and institutions
“Our Partnership will accomplish these
objectives through a trilateral effort to
increase the security, prosperity, and
quality of life of our citizens. This work will
be based on the principle that our security
and prosperity are mutually dependent and
complementary, and will reflect our shared
belief in freedom, economic opportunity,
and strong democratic values and
institutions. Also, it will help consolidate
our action into a North American framework
to confront security and economic
challenges, and promote the full potential
of our people, addressing disparities and
increasing opportunities for all” (SPP 1)
SPP and ‘development’ of marginal populations
 “In the long run, healthier indigenous
communities will be able to more fully participate
in the social, economic, and cultural life of North
America” (Annex to the SPP)
 “Improvements in human capital and physical
infrastructure in Mexico, particularly in the center
and south of the country, would knit these regions
more firmly into the North American economy and
are in the economic and security interests of all
three countries” (Independent Task Force on the
Future of North America)
 SPP draws together “sovereignty—discipline—
government” (Foucault) at the trilateral level
 the defense and security of the population
 the regulation and disciplining of subjects into citizens
 the optimization of subjects by governing life and the
economy
 Concerns that
 Provides no mechanisms for shared governance
 Consultative only with business community: North
American Competitiveness Council
 No discussion of trilateral citizenship: representation,
accountability, transparency
 "Continental Prosperity in the New
Security Environment”
Fairmont Banff Springs
Hotel, Sept 12-14, 2006
Co-chaired by
George Shultz, former Secretary of State to President Ronald Reagan
Dr. Pedro Aspe, former Secretary of Finance to President Carlos
Salinas
Hon. Peter Lougheed, former Premier of Alberta
Keynote address by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on military to
military cooperation
Other participants include:
Mr. Thomas d’Aquino, Canadian Council of Chief Executives
Dr. Wendy Dobson The Institute for International Business
Hon. John P. Manley, McCarthy, Tetrault LLP
Dr. Robert A. Pastor, Director, Center for North American Studies,
American University, Washington, DC
Emb Andrés Rozental (Mexican Coordinator), Mexican Council on Foreign
Relations
Tim Keating, US NorthCom Admiral and NATO commander
General Rick Hellier, Chief of Defense Staff
Representatives from Lockheed Martin, Chevron, Mexico's PEMEX, Suncor
Energy
 Working behind the scenes
on infrastructure, regulatory
frameworks: “evolution by stealth”
 Canada to host June 2007 meeting in
Kananaskis
II: Transnational Politics and
Citizenship
Peter Jay Smith
 Professor of Political Science,
Athabasca University (AB)
 BA (University of Portland, Oregon);
MA (McMaster); PhD (Carleton)
 Information and communication
technologies (ICTs)
 New forms of expression and connection
among people
 Creating new public spaces
 Contesting globalization
 Anti-MAI, -WTO, -IMF activism
 Economic globalization
 Challenges Westphalian state model
 Challenges assumption that politics and citizenship
only possible within the state
 Alongside challenges to state-centric Canadian
citizenship
 Quebec nationalism
 Aboriginal claims
 Social movement activism
 1960s+ and rise of non-traditional forms of
participation
 Shift from democratic citizenship (participation,
shaping decisions) to consumer citizenship (selfinterested, atomistic consumers of government
services)
Rethinking public space
Hannah Arendt on combative politics
 Association and contestation
 Site of struggle
 Political realm emerges out of sharing of words and
deeds
 Public and private always contested, negotiated
 “The polis, properly speaking, is not the city-state in
its physical location, it is the organization of the
people as it arises out of acting and speaking together
for this purpose, no matter where they happen to be”
(Arendt)
Internet
 Promotes interactivity
 Is open and flexible
 Horizontal links: control of
information in hands of more people
 Rise of alternative public spaces
 But biased and exclusive?
Multilateral Agreement on Investment
 Discussions originated in 1995 to
 1) broad multilateral framework for investment
 2) further trade liberalization
 3) effective dispute settlement mechanism
 4) open to OECD members first, then others
 Draft text leaked February 1997
 Public Citizen and Polaris
 Web mobilization: 400 web sites
 France withdraws Oct 1998, discussions end Dec 1998
Importance of internet mobilization
Internet used to facilitate debate:

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Co-ordinate global campaign
Provide draft faxes and open letters
To share press releases
Make public information
 Used alongside traditional lobbying
methods
Millennium Round of WTO negotiations
 All participants make use of the Internet
 Sept 1998: MIT Sergio Marchi invites public
discussion on WTO: extensive consultations
ensue
 Sept 1998: Council of Canadians begins crosscountry tour
 Feb 1999: DFAIT establishes own web-site; then
consultations with business, public
 Summer 1999: 40 Canadian NGOs sign on-line
Civil Society Declaration (1,100 organizations
from 87 countries)
Government On Line (GOL) initiative (1999)
 Citizen on-line service delivery to “brand”
Canada
 DFAIT doubles IT budget to $100 million
(1999/2000)
 Biggest department is Information Management
and Technology Bureau
 Implements MITNET (multi-user
International Telecommunications Network)
Dialogue on Foreign Policy (DFP)
 Launched January 2003
 To discuss: “Canada’s place in the world”
 Includes relationship with US and 3 foreign
policy pillars: 1) security, 2) prosperity and 3)
values and culture
 MFA Bill Graham: “public input and
partnerships are central to the process”
 Includes:
 Town hall meetings
 Expert roundtables
 Electronic discussions on dedicated website
Internet offers potential to have more direct representation
 importance alongside declining interest in formal politics
But problems with ICTS
 Quality of information uneven
 Quantity of data can exceed capacity to process and
analyze
 Predominance of English language
 Digital divide persists
 Customized environments where dissent eliminated
 Can ICTS promote transnational citizenship?
 Is transnational citizenship viable?
III: Conclusions
 Citizenship requires trusted intermediaries,
institutions, and agencies to:
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Bring people of different points of view together
Mediate differences
Construct consensus
Make decisions
Citizenship in action
But does this require nation-state?
 David Held: erosion of nation-states:
need transnational democratic legal
order
 Will Kymlicka: nation-states still
powerful, territorial politics important,
transnational associations not
possible