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Panama and the United States: The Forced Alliance
After Panama assumed control of the Panama Canal in 1999, its relations with the United States became those of a friendly neighbor. In this third edition, Michael L. Conniff describes Panama’s experience as owner-operator of one of the world’s premier waterways and the United States’ adjustment to its new, smaller role. He finds that Panama has done extremely well with the canal and economic growth but still struggles to curb corruption, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Historically, Panamanians aspired to have their country become a crossroads of the world, while Americans sought to tame a vast territory and protect their trade and influence around the globe. The building of the Panama Canal (1904–14) locked the two countries in their parallel quests but failed to satisfy either fully. Drawing on a wide array of sources, Conniff considers the full range of factors―political, social, strategic, diplomatic, economic, and intellectual―that have bound the two countries together.
260 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
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January 19, 2021
Conniff's third edition of this book reads like a textbook on U.S.-Panama relations...because it is a textbook on U.S.-Panama relations. Emphasizing the "forced and unequal alliance" between the two countries: "Panama has always aspired to become an international crossroads for commerce, travel, communication, and profit. The United States had long sought to create a maritime link between the Atlantic and the Pacific and to become the preeminent hemispheric and then world power." The alliance between them was forced in that both countries needed each other to accomplish their respective aims, but also in that the U.S. largely dictated the terms of the relationship between them. Only in recent decades - since the successful turnover of the Panama Canal from U.S. to Panamanian control - and Panama's climb out from rule in the dictatorial Torrijos and Noriega regimes - has Panama had a trajectory out of the forced relationship. With all that has transpired in Panama, in the U.S., and in the world since its publication a decade ago, there is much left to be said about where that trajectory has led, what is better because of it, and what new perils it has wrought for both countries and for the world.
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