Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:02:43.157Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the Economic Cost to Panama of Negotiating a Peaceful Solution to the Panama Canal Question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alfred E. Osborne Jr.*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Extract

Negotiating a treaty between two sovereign nations is no simple matter. Even when there is consensus that a new accord is long overdue, a solution acceptable to both governments and their most vocal constituencies is most elusive and often difficult to conclude within a reasonable period of time. This is especially true when there is strong popular opinion aroused on both sides. Discussions usually drag on, and while diplomats publicly agree that “progress is being made,” there are significant political and economic benefits unrealized by either or both countries involved in the negotiation proceedings (Lopez Guevara, 1976).

The present treaty negotiations between the Republic of Panama and the United States of America is a case in point. That Panamanian public opinion is aroused on the Canal issue is indicated by the 1964 Canal Zone border incidents in which twenty-one Panamanians and three Americans died and by subsequent demonstrations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atlantic Pacific Interoceanic Canal Study Commission (1970) Interoceanic Canal Studies. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Blanco, B. (1971) “El Canal de Panama en la Economia Norte-americana.” Anales de Ciencias Humanas 1 (December): 1728.Google Scholar
Bunker, E. (1975) “The Panama Canal negotiations: popular myths and political realities.” Department of State Bull. 73 (December): 881885.Google Scholar
Bunker, E. (1974) “Panama and the United States: a design for partnership.” Department of State Bull. (April): 453457.Google Scholar
Burns, E. (1974) “Panama's struggle for independence.” Current History 26 (January): 1922, 38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economic Commission for Latin America [Mexico Office] (1972) The Economy of Panama and the Canal Zone (2 Vols.) Mexico: Cepal/Mex/72/28/rev. 1.Google Scholar
Lopez Guevara, C. (1976) “Negotiating for a peaceful solution of the Panama Canal question.” Presented to the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Atlanta.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State (1974) “Developments in U.S. relations with Panama 1903 to the present: a chronology.” Department of State Bull. 70 (April): 430435.Google Scholar
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, 88th Congress, 1st Session (1973) Public Work Appropriations for 1964. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, 93rd Congress, 2nd Session (1974) Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1975, Part 4. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, 94th Congress, 1st Session (1975) Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1976, Part 4. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.N. Statistical Office (1975) Yearbook of National Accounts Statistics, 1973, Vol. 2. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar