The U.S.-Mexico Border Region is among the poorest geographical areas in the United States. The region has been long characterized by dual development, poor infrastructure, weak schools, health disparities and low-wage employment. More recently, the region has been affected by the violence associated with a drug and crime war in Mexico. The premise of this book is that the U.S.-Mexico Border Region is subject to systematic oppression and that the so-called social pathologies that we see in the region are by-products of social and economic injustice in the form of labor exploitation, environmental racism, immigration militarism, institutional sexism and discrimination, health inequities, a political economy based on low-wage labor, and the globalization of labor and capital. The chapters address a variety of examples of injustice in the areas of environment, health disparity, migration unemployment, citizenship, women and gender violence, mental health, and drug violence. The book proposes a pathway to development.

The U.S.-Mexico Border Region is among the poorest geographical areas in the United States. The region has been long characterized by dual development, poor infrastructure, weak schools, health disparities and low-wage employment. More recently, the region has been affected by the violence associated with a drug and crime war in Mexico. The premise of this book is that the U.S.-Mexico Border Region is subject to systematic oppression and that the so-called social pathologies that we see in the region are by-products of social and economic injustice in the form of labor exploitation, environmental racism, immigration militarism, institutional sexism and discrimination, health inequities, a political economy based on low-wage labor, and the globalization of labor and capital. The chapters address a variety of examples of injustice in the areas of environment, health disparity, migration unemployment, citizenship, women and gender violence, mental health, and drug violence. The book proposes a pathway to development.

Fronteras No Mas treats the U.S.-Mexico border as an opportune space in which residents address their common interests in a clean environment, better wages and trade, and respect for human rights. Since NAFTA, more transnational institutions and policies have emerged, facilitating the growth of civil society, such as community-based and nonprofit organizations. Yet cross-border organizing remains a challenging and complex version of local politics: residents live and work within a region of vast economic equalities and markedly different governments. The authors offer a civic blueprint on ways to enhance cooperation, given the continuing interdependence of this North American space at the border.

Fronteras No Mas treats the U.S.-Mexico border as an opportune space in which residents address their common interests in a clean environment, better wages and trade, and respect for human rights. Since NAFTA, more transnational institutions and policies have emerged, facilitating the growth of civil society, such as community-based and nonprofit organizations. Yet cross-border organizing remains a challenging and complex version of local politics: residents live and work within a region of vast economic equalities and markedly different governments. The authors offer a civic blueprint on ways to enhance cooperation, given the continuing interdependence of this North American space at the border.

The text is illustrated with many development cases, hypothetical situations, examples, and role-playing exercises. The book is well researched and well written. It will be useful to students and teachers of development administration. --RISA "Staudt's very readable text is peppered with numerous illustrative examples from throughout the world (including the United States and other developed countries) that bring potentially esoteric issues to life. Also included are brief case studies, role-playing exercises, and staggered assignments for individual projects that can be used by imaginative instructors to promote hands-on involvement. An appendix lists other useful sources for case materials and the book contains numerous valuable references to the recent literature on development." --Gregory D. Schmidt, Northern Illinois University "This book offers interesting features at both the pedagogical and analytical levels. . . . The author's interdisciplinary approach as well as her macro and micro perspectives give valuable insight into the highly complex world of the management of development." --International Review of Administrative Sciences "This is a superb text, one that will be required reading by all scholars in the field of development. It is particularly important for its contribution to recent scholarship, and its use of new, innovative approaches to development. This book is a breath of fresh air in a field full of platitudes and old ideas. It will improve both thinking and teaching about development management." --Jane L. Parpart, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada "Long overdue...This text is not only gender sensitive, but interdisciplinary, theoretically grounded, policy relevant and, best of all, interesting to read." --Sue Ellen Charlton, Colorado State University "While theoretically aware and non-aligned (to any official agency), Staudt's approach to development management is essentially practical and pragmatic. Her concern for grassroots participation is combined with a full appreciation of the significance of national and international levels of decision making and implementation, and of the roles of both governmental and non-governmental organizations. In a style that is both direct and clear, she informs, but does not prescribe, about the contexts, the techniques, the institutions and the sectors in which, and with which, management operates, providing in the process a variety of challenging and realistic case studies. She also succeeds admirably in integrating gender--as a matter of common sense--into the mainstream of international development management concerns." --David Hirschmann, The American University, Washington D.C. "This text provides a brilliant juxtaposition of interrelated but hitherto isolated fields in the complex and controversial political economy of 'development.' The author brings unique, timely insights and formats to bear, especially from indigenous Third World activists, authors and scholars as well as practitioners. She bridges the local and global, the political and the technical. Her book is particularly welcome at the start of the 1990s as a truly radical departure from the diversions and disappointments of orthodox development administration and structural adjustment. Hopefully, public policy will not be the same once this text is distributed, digested and debated!" --Timothy W. Shaw, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada "Staudt presents a multifaceted comprehensive analysis, with illustrative examples drawn from a wide range of countries....a worthwhile contribution to recent literature reporting on and assessing the record of governmentally sponsored developmental efforts, with a focus on issues of management and administration....Woven throughout the text are commendable references to persistent deficiencies such as the dearth of participation by women in development activities and the frequency of a feeling of alienation and distance between institutional staff members and the people they should be serving. Another praiseworthy feature is inclusion of many teaching aids such as cases, role playing sessions, and 'staggered assignments' related to the preparation of individual projects....outstanding source for bibliographical information about recent literature on development." --Public Adminstration Review "A useful book for those involved in development work, it moves beyond politics and policy-making into organization for action and studies political relationships between people, their organizations, and the state in development projects. Case studies, examples and role-play exercises are used to build analytic skills." --Intermediate Technology Bookshop The complexities facing development managers are vast. The enormous challenges to understanding the breadth and depth of development transformation are apparent in each level of this process and demand attention. Answering the need for a comprehensive introductory resource is Managing Development. This fresh perspective on development management analyzes both international and national development agencies and shows the widely differing cultural contexts in which to plan, manage, and evaluate development programs. Stressing political context and process throughout, the focus, nevertheless, in Managing Development is on bureaucratic politics and political relationships between people, their organizations, and the state in development programs and projects. The chapters examine development programs in agriculture and health, particularly reproductive health, and provide hypothetical situations, examples, and roleplay exercises. A well integrated treatment of development teaching, learning, and applications, this volume shows that much can be learned from the analysis of both successful and unsuccessful development programs. Managing Development is the essential resource for courses in development studies, political science, comparative politics, urban studies, and policy studies, as well as for planners and researchers in development management.

More than forty years have passed since President Richard Nixon described illegal drugs as "public enemy number one" and declared a "War on Drugs." Recently the United Nations Global Commission on Drug Policy declared that "the global war on drugs has failed with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." Arguably, no other country has suffered as much from the War on Drugs as Mexico. From 2006 to 2012 alone, at least sixty thousand people have died. Some experts have said that the actual number is more than one hundred thousand. Because the war was conceived and structured by US policymakers and officials, many commentators believe that the United States is deeply implicated in the bloodshed."
A War that Can't Be Won" is the first book to include contributions from scholars on both sides of the US-Mexico border. It provides a unique breadth of perspective on the many dimensions of the societal crisis that affects residents of both nations--particularly those who live and work in the borderlands. It also proposes practical steps toward solving a crisis that shows no signs of abating under current policies. Each chapter is based on well-documented data, including previously unavailable evidence that was obtained through freedom-of-information inquiries in Mexico. By bringing together views from both sides of the border, as well as from various academic disciplines, this volume offers a much wider view of a complex problem--and possible solutions.

Much political oratory has been devoted to safeguarding America's boundary with Mexico, but policies that militarize the border and criminalize immigrants have overshadowed the region's widespread violence against women, the increase in crossing deaths, and the lingering poverty that spurs people to set out on dangerous northward treks. This book addresses those concerns by focusing on gender-based violence, security, and human rights from the perspective of women who live with both violence and poverty.
From the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, scholars from both sides of the 2,000-mile border reflect expertise in disciplines ranging from international relations to criminal justice, conveying a more complex picture of the region than that presented in other studies.
Initial chapters offer an overview of routine sexual assaults on women migrants, the harassment of Central American immigrants at the hands of authorities and residents, corruption and counterfeiting along the border, and near-death experiences of border crossers. Subsequent chapters then connect analysis with solutions in the form of institutional change, social movement activism, policy reform, and the spread of international norms that respect human rights as well as good governance.
These chapters show how all facets of the border situation--globalization, NAFTA, economic inequality, organized crime, political corruption, rampant patriarchy--promote gendered violence and other expressions of hyper-masculinity. They also show that U.S. immigration policy exacerbates the problems of border violence--in marked contrast to the border policies of European countries.
By focusing on women's everyday experiences in order to understand human security issues, these contributions offer broad-based alternative approaches and solutions that address everyday violence and inattention to public safety, inequalities, poverty, and human rights. And by presenting a social and democratic international feminist framework to address these issues, they offer the opportunity to transform today's security debate in constructive ways.

Texas-based affiliates in the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) offer a strong, mature organizing model compared with other community organizations. In Hope for Justice and Power, Kathleen Staudt examines the twenty-first-century activities of the Texas IAF in multiple cities and towns around the state, drawing on forty years of academic teaching and on twenty years of active leadership experiences in the IAF. She identifies major contradictions, tensions, and their resolutions in IAF organizing related to centralism versus local control, reformist versus radical goals, stable revenue generation, greater gender balance in leadership, and evolving IAF principles.To analyze the Texas IAF, Staudt draws on participant observation in El Paso, statewide meetings and training, on interviews, and on archival documents and media coverage. This book will appeal to those interested in community-based organizing and leadership, Mexican American and women's politics, civic-capacity building in education, political socialization, and both Texas and urban politics.

Ciudad Juarez has recently become infamous for its murder rate, which topped 3,000 in 2010 as competing drug cartels grew increasingly violent and the military responded with violence as well. Despite the atmosphere of intimidation by troops, police, and organized criminals, women have led the way in civil society activism, spurring the Juarez Resistance and forging powerful alliances with anti-militarization activists.

An in-depth examination of la Resistencia Juarense, Courage, Resistance, and Women in Ciudad Juarez draws on ethnographic research to analyze the resistance's focus on violence against women, as well as its clash with the war against drugs championed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon with the support of the United States. Through grounded insights, the authors trace the transformation of hidden discourses into public discourses that openly challenge the militarized border regimes. The authors also explore the advocacy carried on by social media, faith-based organizations, and peace-and-justice activist Javier Sicilia while Calderon faced U.S. political schisms over the role of border trade in this global manufacturing site.

Bringing to light on-the-ground strategies as well as current theories from the fields of sociology, political anthropology, and human rights, this illuminating study is particularly significant because of its emphasis on the role of women in local and transnational attempts to extinguish a hot zone. As they overcome intimidation to become game-changing activists, the figures featured in Courage, Resistance, and Women in Ciudad Juarez offer the possibility of peace and justice in the wake of seemingly irreconcilable conflict.

Initially, research in border studies relied mainly on generalizations from cases in the US-Mexico borderlands before subsequently burgeoning in Europe. Border Politics in a Global Era seeks to expand the study further to include the post-colonial South in response to the major challenge of interdisciplinary border studies: to explore borderlands in many contexts, with and across a variety of states, including the so-called developing, post-colonial states. Culled from decades of firsthand observations of borders from around the world and written with a critical and gender lens, the text is framed with attention to history, geography, and the power of films and travelogues to represent people as "others." Professor Kathleen Staudt advances border concepts, categories, and theories to focus on trade, migration, and security highlighting the importance of states, their length of time since independence, and border bureaucrats' discretionary practices. Drawing on her Border Inequalities Database for a global perspective, Staudt calls for reducing inequalities and building institutions in the common grounds of borderlands. The book features maps and other visuals with lists of links at the close of most chapters. Broadly comparative in nature, Border Politics in a Global Era will appeal not only to students of border studies; it will also stimulate attention in comparative politics, international studies, and political geography.

Initially, research in border studies relied mainly on generalizations from cases in the US-Mexico borderlands before subsequently burgeoning in Europe. Border Politics in a Global Era seeks to expand the study further to include the post-colonial South in response to the major challenge of interdisciplinary border studies: to explore borderlands in many contexts, with and across a variety of states, including the so-called developing, post-colonial states. Culled from decades of firsthand observations of borders from around the world and written with a critical and gender lens, the text is framed with attention to history, geography, and the power of films and travelogues to represent people as "others." Professor Kathleen Staudt advances border concepts, categories, and theories to focus on trade, migration, and security highlighting the importance of states, their length of time since independence, and border bureaucrats' discretionary practices. Drawing on her Border Inequalities Database for a global perspective, Staudt calls for reducing inequalities and building institutions in the common grounds of borderlands. The book features maps and other visuals with lists of links at the close of most chapters. Broadly comparative in nature, Border Politics in a Global Era will appeal not only to students of border studies; it will also stimulate attention in comparative politics, international studies, and political geography.

Much political oratory has been devoted to safeguarding America's boundary with Mexico, but policies that militarize the border and criminalize immigrants have overshadowed the region's widespread violence against women, the increase in crossing deaths, and the lingering poverty that spurs people to set out on dangerous northward treks. This book addresses those concerns by focusing on gender-based violence, security, and human rights from the perspective of women who live with both violence and poverty.
From the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, scholars from both sides of the 2,000-mile border reflect expertise in disciplines ranging from international relations to criminal justice, conveying a more complex picture of the region than that presented in other studies.
Initial chapters offer an overview of routine sexual assaults on women migrants, the harassment of Central American immigrants at the hands of authorities and residents, corruption and counterfeiting along the border, and near-death experiences of border crossers. Subsequent chapters then connect analysis with solutions in the form of institutional change, social movement activism, policy reform, and the spread of international norms that respect human rights as well as good governance.
These chapters show how all facets of the border situation--globalization, NAFTA, economic inequality, organized crime, political corruption, rampant patriarchy--promote gendered violence and other expressions of hyper-masculinity. They also show that U.S. immigration policy exacerbates the problems of border violence--in marked contrast to the border policies of European countries.
By focusing on women's everyday experiences in order to understand human security issues, these contributions offer broad-based alternative approaches and solutions that address everyday violence and inattention to public safety, inequalities, poverty, and human rights. And by presenting a social and democratic international feminist framework to address these issues, they offer the opportunity to transform today's security debate in constructive ways.

The text is illustrated with many development cases, hypothetical situations, examples, and role-playing exercises. The book is well researched and well written. It will be useful to students and teachers of development administration. --RISA "Staudt's very readable text is peppered with numerous illustrative examples from throughout the world (including the United States and other developed countries) that bring potentially esoteric issues to life. Also included are brief case studies, role-playing exercises, and staggered assignments for individual projects that can be used by imaginative instructors to promote hands-on involvement. An appendix lists other useful sources for case materials and the book contains numerous valuable references to the recent literature on development." --Gregory D. Schmidt, Northern Illinois University "This book offers interesting features at both the pedagogical and analytical levels. . . . The author's interdisciplinary approach as well as her macro and micro perspectives give valuable insight into the highly complex world of the management of development." --International Review of Administrative Sciences "This is a superb text, one that will be required reading by all scholars in the field of development. It is particularly important for its contribution to recent scholarship, and its use of new, innovative approaches to development. This book is a breath of fresh air in a field full of platitudes and old ideas. It will improve both thinking and teaching about development management." --Jane L. Parpart, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada "Long overdue...This text is not only gender sensitive, but interdisciplinary, theoretically grounded, policy relevant and, best of all, interesting to read." --Sue Ellen Charlton, Colorado State University "While theoretically aware and non-aligned (to any official agency), Staudt's approach to development management is essentially practical and pragmatic. Her concern for grassroots participation is combined with a full appreciation of the significance of national and international levels of decision making and implementation, and of the roles of both governmental and non-governmental organizations. In a style that is both direct and clear, she informs, but does not prescribe, about the contexts, the techniques, the institutions and the sectors in which, and with which, management operates, providing in the process a variety of challenging and realistic case studies. She also succeeds admirably in integrating gender--as a matter of common sense--into the mainstream of international development management concerns." --David Hirschmann, The American University, Washington D.C. "This text provides a brilliant juxtaposition of interrelated but hitherto isolated fields in the complex and controversial political economy of 'development.' The author brings unique, timely insights and formats to bear, especially from indigenous Third World activists, authors and scholars as well as practitioners. She bridges the local and global, the political and the technical. Her book is particularly welcome at the start of the 1990s as a truly radical departure from the diversions and disappointments of orthodox development administration and structural adjustment. Hopefully, public policy will not be the same once this text is distributed, digested and debated!" --Timothy W. Shaw, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada "Staudt presents a multifaceted comprehensive analysis, with illustrative examples drawn from a wide range of countries....a worthwhile contribution to recent literature reporting on and assessing the record of governmentally sponsored developmental efforts, with a focus on issues of management and administration....Woven throughout the text are commendable references to persistent deficiencies such as the dearth of participation by women in development activities and the frequency of a feeling of alienation and distance between institutional staff members and the people they should be serving. Another praiseworthy feature is inclusion of many teaching aids such as cases, role playing sessions, and 'staggered assignments' related to the preparation of individual projects....outstanding source for bibliographical information about recent literature on development." --Public Adminstration Review "A useful book for those involved in development work, it moves beyond politics and policy-making into organization for action and studies political relationships between people, their organizations, and the state in development projects. Case studies, examples and role-play exercises are used to build analytic skills." --Intermediate Technology Bookshop The complexities facing development managers are vast. The enormous challenges to understanding the breadth and depth of development transformation are apparent in each level of this process and demand attention. Answering the need for a comprehensive introductory resource is Managing Development. This fresh perspective on development management analyzes both international and national development agencies and shows the widely differing cultural contexts in which to plan, manage, and evaluate development programs. Stressing political context and process throughout, the focus, nevertheless, in Managing Development is on bureaucratic politics and political relationships between people, their organizations, and the state in development programs and projects. The chapters examine development programs in agriculture and health, particularly reproductive health, and provide hypothetical situations, examples, and roleplay exercises. A well integrated treatment of development teaching, learning, and applications, this volume shows that much can be learned from the analysis of both successful and unsuccessful development programs. Managing Development is the essential resource for courses in development studies, political science, comparative politics, urban studies, and policy studies, as well as for planners and researchers in development management.

More than forty years have passed since President Richard Nixon described illegal drugs as "public enemy number one" and declared a "War on Drugs." Recently the United Nations Global Commission on Drug Policy declared that "the global war on drugs has failed with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." Arguably, no other country has suffered as much from the War on Drugs as Mexico. From 2006 to 2012 alone, at least sixty thousand people have died. Some experts have said that the actual number is more than one hundred thousand. Because the war was conceived and structured by US policymakers and officials, many commentators believe that the United States is deeply implicated in the bloodshed.
"A War that Can't Be Won" is the first book to include contributions from scholars on both sides of the US-Mexico border. It provides a unique breadth of perspective on the many dimensions of the societal crisis that affects residents of both nations--particularly those who live and work in the borderlands. It also proposes practical steps toward solving a crisis that shows no signs of abating under current policies. Each chapter is based on well-documented data, including previously unavailable evidence that was obtained through freedom-of-information inquiries in Mexico. By bringing together views from both sides of the border, as well as from various academic disciplines, this volume offers a much wider view of a complex problem--and possible solutions.