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Panama Foreign Policy Decision Making
Article 179 of Panama's Constitution gives the president, with
the participation of the minister of foreign relations, the power
to "direct foreign relations, to negotiate treaties and public
conventions, which will then be submitted to the consideration of
the Legislative Organ, and to accredit and receive diplomatic and
consular agents."
In practice, however, the president's role in foreign policy
was circumscribed by several factors. The most significant was the
dominant influence of the FDP and its commander. No major foreign
policy initiatives were possible without FDP approval. Torrijos
began the practice, continued by Noriega, of direct military
involvement in foreign policy matters without going through, or
even necessarily consulting, the civilian political structure. The
official party, the PRD, also played a role, both in selecting the
foreign minister and in the Legislative Assembly, where it held an
absolute majority. There, resolutions frequently were passed on
matters of foreign policy. Although such resolutions lacked the
force of law, their passage complicated the policy process.
The foreign ministry had a core of professional, career
employees, but the post of foreign minister and most of the key
ambassadorial appointments were filled by political appointees. The
ministry itself played largely an administrative, rather than a
decision-making, role in the policy process. Its authority was
somewhat greater in commercial matters than in political matters.
Internally, it was organized into a number of directorates for
various world regions plus one for international organizations. In
the past, various interests groups such as CONEP and university
students were able to exercise some influence over foreign policy,
but growing internal political polarization largely negated their
influence.
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The debate over the Panama Canal treaties generated a large
body of literature on the canal and on United States-Panamanian
relations, but little of this deals with internal Panamanian
affairs. Panama's national politics remain among the least studied
of any Latin American nation. Basic documents include the
Constitución Política de la República de Panamá de 1972:
Reformada por los Actos Reformatorios de 1978 y por el Acto
Constitucional de 1983 and the Codigo Electoral de la
República de Panamá y Normas Complementarias as well as the
1977 Panama Canal Treaty and the associated Treaty
Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama
Canal (for text of treaties, see Appendix B). A first-person
account of the negotiation and ratification of the treaties is
William J. Jorden's Panama Odyssey, while a more analytical
study is provided by William L. Furlong and Margaret E. Scranton in
The Dynamics of Foreign Policymaking. The best studies of
internal Panamanian politics are those of Steve Ropp. Rapidly
changing events have made his 1982 book Panamanian Politics:
From Guarded Nation to National Guard somewhat dated, but his
subsequent articles in Current History fill in some of the
gaps. Also useful are Thomas John Bossert's "Panama" in
Confronting Revolution edited by Morris J. Blachman, William M.
Leogrande, and Kenneth Sharpe, and the 1987 Report on Panama:
Findings of the Study Group on United States-Panamanian
Relations published by the Johns Hopkins University School of
Advanced International Studies. Opposition views of recent events
are available in articles by Guillermo Sanchez Borbón and Ricardo
Arias Calderón. The United States Congressional hearings on Panama
held in 1986 and 1987 also provide valuable information, as does
the annual "Political Risk Report: Panama," produced by Frost and
Sullivan of New York. (For further information and complete
citations, see Bibliography.
Data as of December 1987
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