In this essay you are to use the events we have studied to help you come up with a statement of Panama’s national identity. What is Panama? What does it mean to be a Panamanian? How have the various events we have studied contributed to the current Panamanian national identity? To help you understand what I mean by national identity, consider the following commentary.
Often a country or nation consists of diverse populations. A national identity is built around mutual goals that all members of a society/country/nation wish to accomplish. In this way we can think of a “national identity” as a consistent set of attitudes that define who a person is as a citizen of his or her country. For example, I might say: “I am a citizen of the United States of America. I am a citizen of a republic built on democratic principles.” The key to creating and maintaing a democracy — whether it is the United States or Panama or any place else in the world — is to establish a national identity around which all the citizens of that country can unite.
Your task is to tell me about that identity and tell me how it came to be by looking at Panama’s relations with the United States.