Book Reviews : The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective. Walter LaFeber, Oxford University Press. £4.95
| Date | 01 October 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787900600415 |
| Published date | 01 October 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
721
economies
of
most
industrialized
countries
and
so
long
as
these
countries
operate
a
democratic
system
of
representative
government
it
is
inescapable
that
the
interests
of
these
enterprises
will
carry
considerable
weight.
Attempts
by
the
EEC
and
the
OECD
to
alter
this
situation
have
so
far
had
little
effect,
particularly
as
regards
the
control
of
international
restric-
tive
business
practices.
However
it
is
possible
that
increasing
pressure
by
the
American
government
in
the
international
economic
field
might
result
in
a
growing
integration
in
European
economic
policy
though
in
all
pro-
bability
this
would
only
increase
the
strains
already
present
in
the
system
as
between
multinational
enterprises
and
national
interests.
The
underlying
cause
of
the
growing
interdependence
of
the
developed
and
developing
nations
is
not,
the
author
holds,
the
spread
of
the
multinationals,
it
is
a
trend
created
by
the
growth
of
international
communication,
of
which
they
are
the
result.
Many
problems
are,
however,
the
outcome
of
multiple
jurisdiction
over
international
enterprises
which
complicate
every
issue
which
would
normally
be
classified
nationally
under
the
general
heading
of
industrial
policy-such
as
&dquo;policies
aimed
at
creating
jobs,
reducing
inequitable
income,
differences
between
classes
or
regions,
reviewing
the
availability
of
scarce
national
supplies
and
the
benign
functioning
of
markets,
securing
tax
revenues,
promoting
consumer
safety,
protecting
the
environment
and
safeguarding
national
security&dquo;.
So
far
such
agreement
as
is
visible
is
amongst
developed
industrial
nations
only,
developing
nations
are
wholeheartedly
anti-multinational.
The
probable
outcome
of
present
trends
is
a
return
to
beggar
my
neighbour
policies.
The
Panama
Canal:
The
Crisis
in
Historical
Perspective.
Walter
LaFeber,
Oxford
University
Press.
£4.95.
This
is
a
very
valuable
study
of
a
little-known
dispute,
save
in
the
barest
outlines,
between
the
USA
and
Panama.
As
the
author
writes
in
his
preface
&dquo;Strangely
the
historic
debate
(on
whether
to
share
control
of
the
Canal
with
Panama)
had
to
be
conducted
amidst
vast
ignorance
about
how
and
why
the
post-1964
crisis
developed ...
As
a
Zone
Canal
official
told
me
in
the
summer
of
1976
&dquo;We
believe that
80%
of
Americans
agree
with
us
that
we
must
keep
the
Canal
under
our
control.
Unfortunately
half
of those
Americans
are
not
sure
where
the
Panama
Canal
is
located.
The
problem,
in
fact,
developed
over
three
quarters
of
a
century,
and
this
history,
especially
the
growing
dependence
of
Panama
upon
the
water-
way
is
inseparable
from
the
crisis
itself.&dquo;
The
book
concentrates
on
four
themes:
(I)
Panama
was
not
created
by
Theodore
Roosevelt-nationalism
there
had
its
roots
in
the
19th
century;
(II)
United
States’
policy
since
1945
and
the
changing
world
situation
affected
its
power
to
control
events
in
Latin
America;
(III)
The
United
States
did
not
buy
the
Canal
area
in
1903
and
therefore
did
not
own
it;
and
(IV)
Panama’s
almost
total
dependence
on
the
Canal
for
its
economic
salvation.
The
fact
that
the
US
has
operated
the
Canal
efficiently,
paying
Panama
millions
of
dollars
annually,
has
not
proved
sufhcient
to
satisfy
the
increasingly
radical
rising
popular
opposition,
combined
with
the
indisputable
fact
that
the
United
States
has,
over
the
years,
manipu-
lated
Panama
to
the
advantage
of
North
America.
The
span
of
the
book
is
from
1510
to
the
1970s
with
three-quarters
devoted
to
examining
the
post-1968
years
of
Kissinger,
Torrijos,
and
Carter,
ending
in
the
conclusion
of
the
1977
treaty.
In
general
terms,
the
value
of
the
trade
passing
through
the
Canal
is
diminishing
and,
in
any
case,
it
requires
very
far-reaching
repair
and
alteration
if
it
is
to
remain
a
viable
asset.
It
is
obviously
more
valuable
now
to
Japan,
South
Korea,
several
Latin
American
nations,
New
Zealand
and
Taiwan
than
to
the
USA.
&dquo;As
one
economic
consultant
on
the
Canal
remarked
in
late
1976,
&dquo;Now
that
people
are
fighting
not
to
give
it
up,
the
thing
isn’t
worth
fighting
about&dquo;.&dquo;
Moreover
the
colonial
relationship
between
the
US
and
Panama
had
become
a
dangerous
anachronism
by
the
mid-1970s.
This
is
an
excellent
study
of
a
little
understood
problem.
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