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Panamanian Democracy One Hundred Years After Independence: Prospects And Problems

ABSTRACTS:This article examines Panama’s troubled history with democratization, since its scandalous independence from Colombia in 1903. Rather than emphasizing the centralist effects of Iberian culture or the popularity of caudillos, often posited as sources of authoritarianism in Latin America, I point out that Panama’s troubles with democracy are as much the result of foreign influence as they are of domestic forces. Using the knowledge accumulated by an enormous number of studies on democratization, the paper illustrates that Panama’s authoritarianism and militarism stems from its lack of independence, alliances between Washington and conservative sectors in the isthmus, and a lack of national unity partly the result of the importation of non-Hispanic peoples for canal construction. Aside from those negative influences, on the isthmus we find very positive influences for democratic development, such as the absence of a traditional landed oligarchy, the dominance of Liberal thought, and the gradual rise of popular and middle sectors. With the withdrawal of all US military bases at the end of 1999 and the end of the Cold War, Panama now has the potential to consolidate its current democratic system.