Essay on "Treaty for Centuries, International Relations"

Essay 5 pages (1551 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Treaty

For centuries, international relations have been dealt with by forms of treaties. In order for a fair bipartisan way to exist and from which to base future laws and actions from, treaties became known as the one way to make fair agreements in which every sovereign nation put their terms and have them permanently scripted before committing to anything (Aust 14-23). A treaty is a binding agreement and/or negotiation entered by two or more international sovereign nations, whose goal is to bring a mutually beneficial entity to all parties involved. This could involve land ownership, trading regulations, new project development, etc. (Aust 14-23). Treaties are usually very specific in their details, including start and end dates of when pre-laid ideas would come into place, and how such ideas would be put into effect. Since all stipulations have to be mutually agreed upon, the entities laid out in a treaty usually have some sort of benefit for all the parties involved in its ratification. It is because of this that all nations' leaders have to sign and agree with everything in the treaty, for the treaty to come into effect. Once all the details have been discussed and implemented within the treaty, these agreements are legally binding and can have severe repercussions if they are not obeyed (Aust 14-23).

There are various types of treaties, and every treaty can be very specific to the situation. Depending on the agreement that nations or entities want to enter, a specific treaty serves a very specific purpose. Bilateral treaties are entered into by two parties. This can be an agreement between two international nations (Europe and Africa, for example), or it can be between two entities of the same nation (English settlers in the United States and the Native Americans, for example) (Aust 214). Treaties can also be multilateral. This means that more than two nations and/or parties are involved. This is most common when global agreements are being made. Negotiations that can potentially involve and affect more than two countries are considered to be multilateral treaties. Treaties can entail a variety of agreements (Aust 215). Negotiations on land possession can be made, trade agreements can be established, and civil laws can be implemented, depending on the terms on which every treaty is based on.

We live in an anarchic international systematic world; there is no one power that governs every sovereign nation. Sovereign states govern themselves and create their own rules of interaction. In this anarchy-type world, there is nothing that would force nations to do something. A treaty is essentially a testament of their ability to keep their promises and compromise. It is important to repeat that treaties are legally binding agreements. The terms outlined in every treaty has to be completely agreed upon before anything could come into affect, because once the involved parties put their signature on these papers, little if nothing, can be done to amend these pre-outlined terms (Aust 300-304). It is because of this that treaties tend to be so significant. The extent of their impact is on a global scale at many points and because of this, the treaties that entities enter must be obligatory in order to sustain their importance and their legality. Treaties bring extreme importance to the parties involved because they outline terms and negotiations that may not become legally binding had it not been for the terms that were outlined in this contract or pact.

There have been hundreds of treaties entered into by the various nations across the world. Every treaty had its specific purpose to serve the needs of those involved nations. The Panama Canal Treaty was a such treaty. The official name of The Panama Canal Treaty is actually the Torrijos-Carter Treaty. In order to fully understand this specific treaty however, the treaty which this one abolished must first be understood. The initial treaty, signed into effect in 1903 was called the Hay-Bunau Treaty, and its sole purpose was to dictate ownership over a future project, the Panama Canal (Clymer 1-9). The United States had interest in having relations with Panama because they had access and ownership of an amazing opportunity for the Americans. In order to increase the international trading market, a quicker route getting from and connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean had to be made in order for ships to be able to travel faster, quicker, and with less posed danger. Instead of having to go all the way down, below the southern tip of South America, to make transoceanic deliveries, cutting through the Panama Isthmus would make things a lot easier (DuTemple 8-25). After encouraging the Panamanians to rebel against Colombia, who owned Panama at the time, the United States provided the military means to help Panama defeat Colombia, and therefore winning rights to build a canal through the Panama Isthmus. This is what the first treaty, the Hay-Bunau Treaty, was about. It provided the rights for the canal to the United States; Panama would receive rental royalties (Clymer 25-32). However, after much complication and severe disagreement about the United States' control over Panamanian property and their high military presence on Panamanian land, riots started occurring. Panamanians did not want the United States to be involved or have any ownership over the Panama Canal, since it was not providing Panama with what they believed was a fair and equal share of the financial retribution for all the profits that were being attained through the canal. It was in 1977 that the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, also known as The Panama Canal Treaty, was ratified (DuTemple 26-33). This treaty abolished and replaced the previous one made, stating that the United States would gradually give control of the Panama Canal to Panama by December 31, 1999. Both treaties were signed by Panama and the United States.

In order for this treaty to come into affect, the opposition of many countries had to be ignored. This entire operation can be seen as a manipulative way for the United States to attain something that they wanted and were thoroughly interested in; they did not allow for anything to get in their way (Warner). The United States first off, built bad relations with Colombia. After initially proposing the treaty to be signed between Colombia and the United States, they encouraged a revolt and a revolution between Panama and Colombia with the sole purpose of getting Panama to sign a treaty giving the United States complete control over the construction project of Panama Canal (DuTemple 26-33). Despite even opposition from the Panamanians, the United States proceeded with their plans of making this project happen, and getting the treaty signed. Knowing that the treaty would be legally binding and would have to be followed, the Americans knew that getting this treaty ratified would be the only way to assure that these relations would be maintained.

The treaty itself was successful in the sense that it did what it was supposed to do: it provided the United States with the power that it needed in order for the Panama Canal to be built. With the United States' power, influence, money, and engineering ingenuity, Panama was able to have a canal built through it, providing Panama with the single-most financial provider for its country. Going directly by the terms that were signed into ratification, the treaty was successful. It returned ownership to the country of origin, just as was promised in 1977 and it did eventually give possession of the Panama Canal to Panama, where it continues to benefit from the financial boom. There however, were many underlying negative moves by the United States in order for them to get what they wanted ini the first place. If one were to ignore all the conniving ways in which the United States got the… READ MORE

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