A Theoretical Analysis of International Civil Aviation Organization

국제민간항공기구의 이론적 고찰

Theories of international organization have explained the creation, maintenance, and decline of international organization. However, their explanations on changes of international organization have been much more different one another. For example, the theory of hegemonic stability argues that international organization can be created and maintained only by a hegemonic state and will be declined if the hegemonic state decline. On the other hand, the functional approach believes that the positive functions and effects that international organization provides motivate states to create and maintain the organization, while the game-theoretical approach explains international organization based on cost-benefit calculation of rational states. Thus, the empirical evaluation of the arguments of the theories of international organization and defining the major factors that determine international organization are necessary not only for the development of theories of international organization but also for making desirable policies toward international organization. For the purpose, this paper compares and contrasts the three major theories of international organization and applies the approaches to the case of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to test their arguments. Since the ICAO has been rarely examined by the theories of international organization, the case study could be desirable case to evaluate theories of international organization. In this sense, this paper attempts to define the major factors that determine the creation, maintenance, and decline of the ICAO. In particular, since the Korean government has changed its policy for air transport security system recently, it will investigate the role of ICAO on the policy change to define the limits and strength of ICAO. In conclusion, this paper will assess the relative explanatory power of each approach based on the analysis of the creation and changes of ICAO