Charakteristika uskupení NAFTA. Popis vztahů a jednotlivých sporů mezi členskými zeměmi. Rozbor veřejného mínění. Dopad na Kanadu a přístup Kanady ke uskupení NAFTA

V práci je rozebráno hospodářství Mexika a hospodářství Spojených států, specifika těchto tržních prostředí a jednotlivé prvky vzájemných hospodářských vztahů. Dále se práce zabývá vlivem Dohody o volném obchodě (NAFTA) na vývoj vzájemných vztahů, migrací a možnými východisky řešení vzájemných vztahů.

This diploma thesis deals with the North American Free Trade Agreement. The aim of this work is to describe and evaluate the importance and impact of developing country and two developed economies of Canada and the United States on the Mexican economy. I deal with trade relations within NAFTA (Mexico - U.S. and Mexico - Canada). I analyze international trade of Mexico. The result of the thesis is to evaluate the impact of NAFTA to the Mexican economy with an emphasis on economic relations with other member states.

That subjective and political values form the sources and function of international law, is an often encountered claim and the literature produced by schools of international legal theory in response to this inquiry diverge. On the one hand, according to classical and positivist approaches to international law, a formalistic and ideal form of the law that is also detached from the world of politics is possible. On the other hand, the perception that attitudinal and institutional constraints might determine the content of the law is common in international legal scholarship ranging from international relations approaches and the New Stream to policy oriented perspectives. Understanding the content of the law, however, would also necessitate questioning how adjudicators interpret legal texts and decide in causal-positive terms. In other words, in theorizing international law, one should explore the interpretation and application of international law in order to test whether adjudicators are influenced by background, training, personality, value preferences as well as normative and structural institutional constraints and, thus, if international law operates based on law and/or politics. Based on the theories and methods of judicial behaviour that originate from the American legal realism movement of the early 20th century, this work undertakes a non-empirical socio-legal research that studies the behaviour of ITA tribunals. It considers that law is indeterminate and that the process of judicial-decision making is a mixture of law, politics and policy. This work constructs a framework based on the political regimes approach by Clayton and May (1999), supplemented by the political jurisprudence literature of Shapiro (1964) and the historical interpretive approach of Smith (1988). It argues that ITA Tribunals “may believe that individual legal institutions are themselves embedded within, and draw meaning from, the larger political regime”. In doing so, the ITA Tribunal may assume a principal political role in order to accommodate the interests of various stakeholders involved in the broader political regime of international investment, albeit limited to constitutive and non-constitutive institutions. This work investigates the role of institutions embedded in the broader political regime in judicial decision-making in ITA. How do institutions, with their political characteristics, affect the process of decision-making in ITA or do they affect at all? To that extent, this work is concerned with whether the ITA Tribunal oscillates between the normative character of the law and the political contingency of the law. It examines the extent to which the ITA Tribunal accommodates politics in its decisions and, in this vein, whether there is a correlation between politics and decision-making in ITA. As its case study, this work studies arbitral decision-making under NAFTA Chapter 11. It first explores the broader political regime in which NAFTA tribunals operate, revisiting the original bargain that underlies the NAFTA deal. It then identifies specific constitutive institutions that are influential in NAFTA ITA decision-making. It traces the specific vocabulary or ‘grammar’ (Koskenniemi 1989) that is used by Chapter 11 Tribunals in considering the place of these constitutive institutions in ITA decision-making. Subsequently, this work studies the normative political development of Article 1105 on the minimum standard of treatment within the broader political regime under NAFTA. It investigates shifts in the specific vocabulary vis-à-vis the distortions to the two pillars of the political regime of NAFTA, namely asymmetric obligations and the regulation of environment. This work demonstrates that the development of the minimum standard of treatment under Article 1105 reflects a brief history of intrusion by non-disputing parties from sovereign states and amici. This is enabled through the constitutive institutions and draws meaning from the political regime of international investment under NAFTA. It concludes that the ITA Tribunal is able to develop a vocabulary with which it could internalize the conundrums of the broader political regime in which it operates. This shows that the ITA Tribunal is not only competent in settling disputes but also in judicial politics.

Reforma catalítica de nafta é um dos processos mais importantes para a produção de gasolina de alta octanagem, hidrocarbonetos aromáticos e hidrogênio na indústria de petróleo e petroquímica. Para predizer os rendimentos e as propriedades dos produtos ou mesmo melhorar as condições de processo é recomendado descrever o processo matematicamente em termos de modelos cinéticos. A nafta tem um grande número de compostos com número de carbonos variando de cinco a doze, assim, um modelo considerando todos os componentes e reações, é complexo. Modelos baseados em lumps costumam agrupar os compostos em isômeros de mesma natureza. Neste trabalho, é proposto um modelo cinético de uma unidade comercial de reforma catalítica com regeneração contínua de catalisador (CCR Continuous Catalyst Regeneration) capaz de predizer o perfil de temperatura e a de composição dos produtos ao longo do reator. O modelo é baseado na análise de hidrocarbonetos parafínicos, naftênicos e aromáticos e na temperatura de carga. A cinética envolve 24 reações modeladas como de pseudo-primeira ordem e 19 componentes. Os parâmetros cinéticos foram estimados usando dados de uma unidade da Petrobras, localizada em Cubatão-SP. O modelo proposto descreve a operação de quatro reatores com fluxo radial representando-os como um reator de fluxo pistonado (PFR Plug Flow Reactor), pois nas condições de operação os efeitos de dispersão radial e axial são assumidos desprezíveis. Os resultados mostram que o modelo pode ser usado para prever os rendimentos de benzeno, tolueno, xileno e hidrogênio. Para os demais compostos os resultados demonstram a necessidade de sofisticação da abordagem. O modelo representa de forma adequada a variação da concentração dos compostos e da temperatura ao longo do inventário de catalisador. / Naphtha catalytic reforming is one of the most important processes for producing high octane gasoline, aromatic products and hydrogen in petroleum and petrochemical industries. To predict yield and properties of the products or even improve the process conditions it is recommended to mathematically describe the process in terms of kinetic models. The naphtha feedstock has a large number of compounds with carbon number ranging from five to twelve. Thus, a detailed kinetic model considering all the components and reactions is complex. Lumping models are used to group the compounds in terms of isomers of the same nature. A kinetic and reactor model of a commercial naphtha continuous catalytic reforming process is proposed to predict temperature profile and products composition. The model is based on paraffins, naphthenes and aromatics analysis and reformer inlet temperature. Kinetics involves 24 pseudo-first-order rate reactions with 19 compounds. All parameters were estimated from industrial data of a Petrobras Refinery at Cubatão-SP. The reactor model describes four radial flow reactors represented by a PFR, due to the fact that under typical reformer operating conditions, radial and axial dispersion effects were found to be negligible. Simulation results demonstrate good agreements between model predictions and actual plant data for benzene, toluene, xylenes and hydrogen. For the remaining compounds, the model output suggests the need for approach sophistication. Nevertheless, the model adequately represents

<p>I denna uppsats undersöker vi Export Processing Zones (EPZ) roll i ett lands ekonomiska utveckling, exemplifierat med Mexico. Fokus för uppsatsen är centrerat kring de bakåtriktade länkeffekter som förväntas uppstå som en effekt av ett EPZ-program. Fenomenet längs den mexikansk-amerikanska gränsen kan sägas ha flera orsaker, men grundas i tillgången på billig arbetskraft samt närhet till världens enskilt största konsumentmarknad. Uppsatsen visar på ett minskat FDI-inflöde, ökad sysselsättning, begränsad teknologiöverföring samt mest jobbspecifik kunskapsöverföring. Eftersom få lokala eller inhemska underleverantörer kontrakteras av EPZ-företagen minimeras länkbildningen. De flesta ekonomiska vinster av zonen noteras i form av fler arbetstillfällen. Resultaten visar att även fast Mexico förlorat sina komparativa fördelar inom arbetsintensiv tillverkning i jämförelse med andra länder har man inte lyckats få ett motsvarande skift mot en mer kapitalintensiv produktion. Detta kan till stor del sägas bero på hur staten har hanterat zonen, bland annat med avseende på utländskt ägande.</p>

I denna uppsats undersöker vi Export Processing Zones (EPZ) roll i ett lands ekonomiska utveckling, exemplifierat med Mexico. Fokus för uppsatsen är centrerat kring de bakåtriktade länkeffekter som förväntas uppstå som en effekt av ett EPZ-program. Fenomenet längs den mexikansk-amerikanska gränsen kan sägas ha flera orsaker, men grundas i tillgången på billig arbetskraft samt närhet till världens enskilt största konsumentmarknad. Uppsatsen visar på ett minskat FDI-inflöde, ökad sysselsättning, begränsad teknologiöverföring samt mest jobbspecifik kunskapsöverföring. Eftersom få lokala eller inhemska underleverantörer kontrakteras av EPZ-företagen minimeras länkbildningen. De flesta ekonomiska vinster av zonen noteras i form av fler arbetstillfällen. Resultaten visar att även fast Mexico förlorat sina komparativa fördelar inom arbetsintensiv tillverkning i jämförelse med andra länder har man inte lyckats få ett motsvarande skift mot en mer kapitalintensiv produktion. Detta kan till stor del sägas bero på hur staten har hanterat zonen, bland annat med avseende på utländskt ägande.

In this thesis I have examined the role of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in fuelling hostcountries economic developments. By looking closer into Mexico and the case of automobile industry which has been historically the subject of control of foreign affiliates I observed coinciding patterns. Through North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the channels between trade and investments have become more obvious and even transparent. Speaking about Mexico’s economic developments, albeit the total volumes of trade have increased, the country’s terms-of- trade were deteriorating following the post-NAFTA years. While conducting the research I have made use of neo-liberal economic discourses, theories of international trade and investment in order to explain the underlying motives for free-trade. These motives offer solid arguments to adopt the strategy of export orientation. While investigating the investments form multinationals and comparable Mexican trade performance, I have fund that exports and FDI flows have seemingly unrelated. The country has been a significant receiver of foreign imports at the time of post-NAFTA developments and huge FDI inflows. The result was that capacity of domestic production was limited and the trade imbalance ensured. Analysis explores closer relation between FDI and the country’s import levels which cause deterioration in the terms of trade and economic growth. The explanation lies in the nature of FDI per se. The type of investment in Mexico is essentially market-seeking, since it adjusts to the international competitive pressures, and search access to comparatively advantageous foreign markets, explained by the theory of capital movements. This paper also questions and raises concern with regard to the consequences of these pressures that leads to race-to-the-bottom policies.

This report chronicles a conflict over a Canadian-owned silver and gold mine in San José del Progreso, Oaxaca, as told by the author’s first-hand experience, eyewitness interviews, and research. Beginning with the Mexican Federal Government’s concession of ejidal land for use by the mining company, without the consent or consultation of the surrounding population, elaboration of the Trinidad mine in San José del Progreso has resulted in division in the community and intense activism, sometimes resulting in violent conflict. / text

This study focuses on the Mexican-American community in the US, the American and Mexican governments, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and trade in general between the US and Mexico. The empirical focus of this study is the influence of the Mexican-American diaspora on US policy, specifically with respect to trade. I attempt to trace the influence of the diaspora in the political debates over NAFTA, and in the post-NAFTA debates. I pose the following questions: 1-Does the Mexican-American diaspora have influence in US domestic politics and the US-Mexico relationship? 2-Does the diaspora use what influence it has to achieve its interests? 3-If so, is it generally successful? These questions will be explored in the context of American trade policy. The Mexican-American diaspora has the resources and characteristics needed to exert influence, but is it so inclined? In order to measure its influence, it must first be asked whether the diaspora attempts to use it in pursuing specific interests. An important component of this analysis will be to determine whether Mexican-Americans are able- and perceived as able- to influence decision-making in the US government through the vote. Other important questions therefore include: Do Mexican-Americans vote? If so, whom do they vote for? And, are Mexican-Americans politically active? The answers to these questions will help us paint a more accurate picture of Mexican-Americans and their influence on US trade policy. This study will reveal that the Mexican-American community has played an increasingly important role in American politics. It will show that the Mexican-American diaspora has an impact on domestic issues such as immigration, but that it is also interested and influential in foreign policy, particularly trade. I intend to demonstrate this influence by exploring its role in the establishment of NAFTA and in the ensuing American debates on hemispheric trade policy. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-02-25 15:32:54.122