Case 150 - The Panama Canal Negotiations

Habeeb, William Mark and I. William Zartman

This two-part case study—beginning with the January 1964 riots in the Panama Canal Zone and ending with the signing of a new treaty in 1977—describes negotiations between the United States and the Republic of Panama concerning the Panama Canal. It would be particularly useful for courses on international negotiation and bargaining because it addresses the role of power in negotiations and the international bargaining between a strong and weak state, and it stresses the dynamics of the asymmetry of structured power.