This book examines the impact of globalization upon the three constitutive states of North America: Canada, Mexico and the United States. It investigates changes in the structures and practices of federalism, in public policies and practices of governance and politics, and in economic livelihoods in all three nations. It also provides detailed comparisons of the effects of globalization on the political and economic lives of women in each country. The book will devote two chapters to each nation. The first chapter for each nation will provide information about the nature and history of the political system, economic and political practices that excluded people on the basis of race and gender, struggles for inclusion in the 19th and 20th centuries, and a discussion of the contributions that these historic struggles for inclusion have made to the understanding and practice of politics within each nation.

In the early 1970s accompanying the current wave of globalization, conservative nationalist religious movements began using religion to oppose non-democratic and often western oriented regimes. Reasserting patriarchal gender relations presumably authorized by religion has been central to these movements. At the Fourth United Nations Congress on Women in Beijing in 1995, Muslim and Catholic delegations from diverse countries united to oppose provisions on sexuality, reproductive rights, women's health, and women's rights as human rights. In this book, scholars from eight different Muslim and Catholic communities analyze the political strategies that women are employing in these contexts ranging from acceptance of traditional doctrines to various forms of resistance, religious reinterpretation, innovation, and political action toward change and equal rights.

This book examines the impact of globalization upon Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It investigates changes in the structures and practices of federalism, in public policies and practices of governance and politics, and in economic livelihoods in all three nations. It also provides detailed comparisons of the effects of globalization on the political and economic lives of women in each country.