Analysis of a Real-Life Negotiation: The Panama Canal Negotiations

Real-Life Negotiation
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Real-Life Negotiation
Introduction
The world is characterized by the integration and interaction of individuals or groups of people with unique and equally diverse beliefs, principles, and ideologies across the social, political, and economic domains. These interactions often transcend the differences in opinions, views, and beliefs of the involved parties towards reaching a compromise that protects the interests of the perceived parallel sides. Failure to reach an agreeable concession between and among the interacting parties may lead to a conflict of interests with potential adverse outcomes such as the civil unrests and wars recorded in human history from the political domain. Business transactions are also characteristic of such concessions or compromises to arrive at the desired outcome for the trading or transacting parties in the economic domain. The social setting of any society around the world also attests to countless cases or scenarios that demand compromising of hard lines and positions on particular issues for the overall benefit of the community. The scenarios highlighted across the social, political, and economic domains find common ground because all the interactions involved function in resolving the potential conflict of interests. These interactions are characterized by individuals, groups, or people with vested interests and extensive communications towards achieving a perceived fair outcome for all the entities involved. Negotiation refers to this process of resolving the existing and identified conflict of interests between two or more entities by engaging in persistent communications CITATION Fis81 \l 1033 (Fisher, 2012). It is a tool that finds its use across all the domains of the global society by creating harmonious coexistence amidst the existing social, political, and economic differences in today’s society CITATION Nel07 \l 1033 (Nelken, 2007). Provided herein is an evaluation of a real-life negotiation highlighting the theories and strategies of negotiation and the perceived obstacles to conflict resolution.
Real-Life Negotiation: The Panama Canal Negotiations
The construction of one of the greatest engineering marvels in the world, the Panama Canal, came at the cost of extensive deliberations among both private and public or state entities. The negotiations began in the mid-19th century with a treaty between the United States and Colombia in 1847, allowing the former passage over Panama’s narrow territory between the Pacific and the Caribbean oceans CITATION Neg21 \l 1033 (Negotiation Experts, 2021). The treaty ensured Colombia’s sovereignty over the region over which the U.S. gained transit passage and that Panama would maintain neutrality over the agreement CITATION Neg21 \l 1033 (Negotiation Experts, 2021). The treaty did not yield any progress or action from the United States, and it was until 1881 that a French company, Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama, gained the contract to construct the canal CITATION Neg21 \l 1033 (Negotiation Experts, 2021). Nine years later, the company went bankrupt, having lost approximately $287 million and a significant loss of human resources along the way. Coincidentally, ...