Neoliberalism, NAFTA, and Dehumanization: The case of femicides in Ciudad Juárez

Denisa Krasna,Sagar Deva

doi:10.32855/fcapital.201901.004

Abstract

The overarching focus of this paper is on the way in which the neoliberalism inherent in the international institutional order produces dehumanisation in the third world and the way in which this dehumanisation manifests itself in direct loss of human life through exploitation and even murder. This paper is split into two main parts, the first of which gives a theoretical and general overview of how neoliberalism has both dominated and dehumanised the international institutional order and the second part of the paper gives a more in-depth case study of this phenomena, focusing on how NAFTA has engendered femicides in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Highlights

Today, we live in an uncertain world where long-held assumptions about the progress and advancement of human civilization along particular lines are being challenged
This paper will take as its key case study the effects of NAFTA on the security of women in Ciudad Juárez, in particular, those who work in the so-called maquiladoras
This article will go on to look at a particular case study in which emergent neoliberal practice has led to the dehumanization of women by creating lawless economic spaces in which women are frequently subjects of violence. It will discuss how NAFTA, detailed above, has created uneven forms of development that prevented local Mexican factories from competing and instead of forcing Mexican women into maquiladoras, designed factories owned by foreign corporations but operated on Mexican soil to reduce costs, made possible by NAFTA’s removal of tariffs and protections from local industry. This has led to the reduction of Mexican women to economic units rather than human beings in possession of a full set of human rights and in many cases their disappearances and deaths, supporting the assertions made in this introductory section and opening up important questions about the natural human consequences of Neoliberal globalism more widely

Summary

Introduction

We live in an uncertain world where long-held assumptions about the progress and advancement of human civilization along particular lines are being challenged. This article will go on to look at a particular case study in which emergent neoliberal practice has led to the dehumanization of women by creating lawless economic spaces in which women are frequently subjects of violence It will discuss how NAFTA, detailed above, has created uneven forms of development that prevented local Mexican factories from competing and instead of forcing Mexican women into maquiladoras, designed factories owned by foreign corporations but operated on Mexican soil to reduce costs, made possible by NAFTA’s removal of tariffs and protections from local industry. This has led to the reduction of Mexican women to economic units rather than human beings in possession of a full set of human rights and in many cases their disappearances and deaths, supporting the assertions made in this introductory section and opening up important questions about the natural human consequences of Neoliberal globalism more widely

NAFTA and Femicides in Ciudad Juárez

Findings

Conclusion