Of Bridges and Borders: An APSA Congressional Fellow’s North American Tale

PSC 49 V2 CoverThe latest virtual issue of PS features articles written by alumni of the Congressional Fellowship Program (CFP) from 2010 to 2015. The CFP fellows serve yearlong placements in congressional and executive offices, and they chronicle their firsthand experiences in the pages of PS. Enjoy the full virtual issue here.

Of Bridges and Borders: An APSA Congressional Fellow’s North American Tale

Version 2Matthew K. Asada

“I had seen once before, halfway around the world, what a new bridge could do to a border region. However, despite having worked in border towns and on border issues for more than a decade, I had never given much thought to the border in my own backyard. I remember crossing the Detroit River to visit the casinos in Windsor, Ontario, before Detroit had her own and seeing the lines of trucks waiting to cross the bridge and being unaware of the border’s economic importance to the region and the country. I had studied the economic benefits of European integration, but never thought about how those lessons could be applied to the North American continent. However, last year as a 2011–2012 APSA congressional fellow working with my hometown congressman US Representative Gary Peters I had the opportunity to apply these overseas experiences to a border that mattered to my town, state, and country. The US-Canadian border is not only the world’s longest nonmilitarized border, but is also the line separating my hometown Detroit, Michigan, from Windsor, Ontario; and it is the line preventing the region and the two countries from fully realizing their economic potential.” Read More.


PS: Political Science & Politics / Volume 46 / Issue 02 / April 2013, pp 431-433