Aeropolitics (Transportation Issues, Policies and R&D Series)

This book is about the intrinsic link between aviation and politics. It addresses the manner in which the world deals with aviation issues and the legal and diplomatic nuances associated with them. From the inception of regulated civil aviation in 1944, politics and diplomacy have been inextricable from policy making and dispute settlement in affairs of aviation. Varied and chronologically sequential instances where the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was requested by its Contracting States to address contentious issues relating to civil aviation are reflective of the importance of political considerations that underlie such disputes. Additionally, with some regularity, individual issues have emerged, which this book will address, that reflect the responses of a dynamic aviation political community. This book also addresses the role of ICAO, which is dedicated to issues of international civil aviation under the auspices of the United Nations. However, it must be stated at the outset that, although political contentions may exist between States, which is a natural corollary of Statecraft and international politics, it is not the purview of an international organisation to address political motivations of individual States when considering issues referred to it or adjudicating disputes between States. In this regard, ICAO, and the rest of the world have tread a delicate line between diplomacy and objectivity.