International Air Transport: A Microsystem in Need of New Approaches

International air transport is a microsystem which includes most of the variables of the international macrosystem. As Young W. Kihl has put it, for example, a functional international organization such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) operates within the milieu of the larger system, reflects the constraints of that system, and can, therefore, be examined in the context of world politics. The transport system combines political, economic, military, and important technical factors with the often contradictory objectives of international, transnational, national, and subnational actors. It is small wonder that comprehensive studies of the subject are difficult to find. None of these books is all-inclusive, but, of those which are original contributions, the range of disciplines represented in them is formidable: Included are the opinions of a political scientist (Kihl), two professors of law (Thomas Buergenthal and K. G. J. Pillai), one economist (Mahlon R. Straszheim), and a professor of international business (Robert L. Thornton). The latter two are the most policy oriented overall. Pillai concentrates on the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an association of the carriers themselves, and Buergenthal and Kihl focus on ICAO, an association of states and a specialized agency of the United Nations.