Globalization, Integration, and Cross-Border Relations in the Metropolitan Area of Detroit (USA) and Windsor (Canada)

Abstract Focusing on one aspect of international relations, cross-border relations this paper examines the Ontario-Michigan border region at Detroit. It addresses the following question: Is there a history of trade relations that leads to functional interdependencies? Does free trade, particularly since the Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement, lead, by a process of functional interdependency, to greater cross-border linkages? Moreover, do politics and institutions mediate this process and if so how? The findings in this paper suggest that since inception the Canadian-American border region at Detroit has developed from functional interdependencies. It is argued, however, that the free trade environment leads local actors to develop resolute economic development strategies. As central and provincial/state levels of government download policy areas, constraints are greater for local level governments. Central states lose influence but rely on competition to limit the policy choices of local government. Co-operative mechanisms, whether formal or informal, tend to give in to market competition, thus limiting the mediation of free trade by politics and institutions. Introduction Economic globalisation and continental integration, in Europe and North America, have motivated local/regional elites to become actors in global economic competition. Since the 1970s, analysts noticed the increasing international activity of sub-national level government, which because of continental integration, global economic change, and weaker national state policies, is motivated to gain greater autonomy from national government (Duchacek et al. 1988). The vulnerability of local constituencies to market forces and to public or private international organisations leads them to take several directions in order to be able to exert influence in return. First, local constituencies attempt to become less dependent on state transfers of revenue, having realised that these transfers are not so reliable (Fry 1998, 57). Second, they try to diversify their economic base to protect and expand their tax base. Because they are held accountable in electoral periods for local economic wealth and job creation, local political actors are becoming more active in order to protect their electoral base, gain political prestige and respond to local needs (Keating 1988, 1990, 1993; Batik 1991; Foster 1991). Cities not only pressure the traditional inter-governmental channels of influence on central government policy-making, but, at the same time, they are becoming primary actors in the area of international economy, trade and investment. Focusing on one aspect of international relations, cross-border relations (Duchacek 1998, 12-13), this paper, which results from a larger comparative research project on cross-border relations in Europe and North America, addresses the following two question: Does free trade lead by a process of functional interdependency, to cross-border linkages? Do politics and institutions--particularly local level institutions--mediate this process and, if so, how? First, a review of the cross-border literature is presented in this paper. It leads to the identification of four determinants of cross-border linkages: (1) market forces, which may lead to relations of functional co-operation or to competition across border; (2) a supranational organisation that may also foster cross-border co-operation--the European Commission, for instance, is key to the development of cross-border co-operation programs, which have resulted in hundreds of cross-border projects between local and national authorities and the European Commission; (2) national states may also be a key determinant because they may control flows across borders; finally, (3) the strategies of local authorities, which may co-operate or compete across borders to enhance their autonomy and resources. In the second part of this paper, these determinants are tested with reference to the Ontario-Michigan border region. …

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