Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Failure To Cooperate: Why Canada, The United States, And Mexico Have Not Developed A Regional Energy Strategy, Timothy Dutton

Honors Theses

Given the push from the private sector, as well as the resource complementarities among the three countries of North America, it is somewhat surprising that North America has not developed an integrated energy strategy based on traditional, non-renewable energy (2000-2016). How should we understand this puzzle? The answer lies in domestic forces and the structure of national preferences. Using liberal international relations theory, this thesis presents a two-step argument: first, the election of pro-green political parties has in each country led to a convergence of preferences for climate action. Essentially, as each one came to power, the win-set for a …