Who governs in a binational context? The role of transnational political elites

Abstract

The United States-Mexico border region is characterized as interdependent. Research has shown that the political boundary complicates rather than facilitates communication and dialogue in border communities that are struggling to ameliorate environmental, economic, immigration, and drug trafficking problems. Likewise, the federal governments in Mexico City and Washington, D.C., in their attempts to maintain sovereignty and centralize power, mandate unilateral solutions to border problems that in some cases exacerbate them. Nevertheless, in spite of federal policies, local elites who reside in the border region, informally create solutions and linkages that help to address local concerns. Additionally, the border regions are unlike their respective nation's center of power, culturally, socially and politically. The U.S.-Mexico border region has been described as a "third country" by some scholars. The present study of border politics sought to determine the unique characteristics of border politicians, binational elites, who wield political power on both sides of the border. This study was conducted to qualitatively explore the binational linkages that political elites shared. The identification of binational elites would, in turn, shed light on how politicians in the future, and in other parts of the world, can function and understand the complexity of problems in a binational setting.