The old certainties of the Cold War, and the conventional attrition-type war implicit in it, have gone. In their place we now have a world of dangerous uncertainty and ambiguity in which old concepts of security are no longer relevant. The present security and future of Panama and the Panama Canal after the year 2000 is a case in point.

This article will take a look at the issue of Canal security within the context of the contemporary “new world disorder” and develop the argument for a new approach to deal with current and future challenges to Panamanian and international security interests.

The bottom line is this: the security of Panama and the Panama Canal — or any other point of strategic interest, now and for the future — will not depend so much on conventional military strategies as it will depend on international and domestic policies that provide for political stability, economic progress, and social justice.