The Impact of Place and Latino Ethnicity upon Congressional Support for Free-trade Extensions in the Americas

Authors

  • Gerald R. Webster University of Alabama
  • Christopher D. Merrett Western Illinois University

Keywords:

congressional voting, NAFTA, place, Latinos

Abstract

Congressional votes on free-trade bills have historically been characterized by distinct sectionalism. Recent work has determined that this is no longer true, and that place-based factors are of greater salience.

Author Biographies

  • Gerald R. Webster, University of Alabama

    Department of Geography

    University of Alabama

    Tuscaloosa, AL 35487

  • Christopher D. Merrett, Western Illinois University

    Department of Geography

    and

    Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs

    Western Illinois University

    Macomb, IL 61455

References

Agnew, J. A. 1987. Place and Politics: The Geographical Mediation of State and Society. Boston: Allen and Unwin.

Arizona Hispanic Community. 1993. Arizona Hispanic Community Forum NAFTA Endorsement Statement. Press release, 3 November.

Associated Press. 1998. Bill on Puerto Rico Advances. Tuscaloosa News (5 March):3A.

Bense R. F. 1984. Sectionalism and American Political Development, 1880-1980. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Bositis, D. A. 1994. The Congressional Black Caucus in the 103rd Congress. Washington, D.C.: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Box-Steffesrnier,J., Arnold, L., and Zorn, C. 1997. The Strategic Timing of Position Taking in Congress: A Study of the North American Free Trade Agreement. American Political Science Review 91(12):324-338.

Bragg, R. 1993.Anxiously Looking South. Los Angeles Times (16 November):Bl, B4.

Broder, D. 1997. U.S. Set Up to Be Cheated on Trade Pacts. Grand Rapids Press (10 December):A9.

Bussey, J. 1993. Cuban American Legislators Wary of NAFTA. Miami Herald (16 November):lC, 3C.

Clark, G. L. 1994. NAFTA: Clinton's Victory, Organized Labor's Loss. Political Geography 13(4):377-384.

Duncan, P. 1993. Politics in America 1994: The 103rd Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.

Fournier, R. 1996. Clinton Hits Cuba with New Sanctions. Tuscaloosa News (J.7 February):lA, 4A.

Gugliotta, G. 1998. Translating District Into Votes: Democrats are Trying to Play Up the GOP's Negative Image Among Latinos. Washington Post National Weekly Edition (12 January): 11.

Huntington, S. P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Kilborn, P. J. 1993. Unions Vow to Punish Pact's Backers. New York Times (19 November):A27.

Latino Consensus. 1993. Statement in Support of NAFTA, National Latino Consensus. Press release, 27 October.

Lehman, S. 1997. U.S., Brazil Disputing Pace of Free-Trade Deal Birmingham News (15 May):3C.

Marquis, C. 1998. Restrictions on Cuba Eased. Birmingham News (20 March): 1A, 6A.

Merrett, C. D. 1997. Nation-States in Continental Markets: The Political Geography of Free Trade. Journal of Geograpy, 96(2):105-112.

---. 1996. Free Trade: Neither Free nor about Trade. Montreal: Black Rose Books.

Merrett, C. D., and Webster, G. R. 1997. Congressional Support for Free Trade: The Geopolitical Economy of Voting Behavior. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers, November, Birmingham, Alabama.

Molina, G. 1993. Molina Endorses NAFTA after White House Agrees to Recommendations of Latino Consensus. Press release, 3 November.

Monitor Leadership Directories. 1994. Congressional Yellow Book 20(1).

National Council of La Raza. 1993. NCLR Endorses NAFTA-Cites Key Clinton Administration Commitments on Development Bank and Worker Retraining. Press release, 3 November.

New York Times. 1993. Running Scared from NAFTA. Editorial (16 November): A26.

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. 1997. Questions and Answers about Fast Track Negotiating Authority. URL: http://www.citizen.org/orgs/public_citizen/pctrade/ ftqa.htmL

Smith, H. and Hart, J. 1955. The American Tariff Map. Geographical Review 45(3):327-346.

Squitieri, T. 1997a. S. American Leaders Want Trade Reform. USA Today (23 May):8A.

---. 1997b. Clinton Wants Trade on Fast-Track. USA Today (10 September):6A.

Southwest Voter Research Institute. 1993. SVRI Endorses NAFTA, Calls upon All Latino Members of Congress to Follow Suit. Press release, 3 November.

United Auto Workers. 1997. Action Alert!: Congratulations! Victory on Fast Track. URL:

http:/ / www.uaw.org/ action_alert/ a_a_nefta.html

Wade, L. and Gates, J. 1990. A New Tariff Map of the United States. Political Geography 9(3):284-304.

Webster, G. R. 1998. A Note on Ideological Polarization in Congress in the 1990s: Race, Region and Redistricting. Southeastern Geographer 38(1):79-87.

---. 1994. Political Geographers Comment on NAFTA. Political Geograpy Specialty Group Newsletter 14(1):3-4.

---. 1992. Cuba: Moving Back to the Future With Tourism. Journal of Geograpy 91(5):226-233.

Yzaguirre, R. 1993. Latinos Will Prosper, and Not Just Financially. Los Angeles Times (16 November):B7.

Downloads

Published

2004-12-31

Issue

Vol. 2 (1998)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).