Opening skies: The political economy of the air cargo industry in the Philippines and Taiwan.

Michaels, Kevin Patrick (2001) Opening skies: The political economy of the air cargo industry in the Philippines and Taiwan. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the political economy of the air cargo industry in the Philippines and Taiwan in the 1990s. The air cargo industry is an important facilitator of economic globalization and now transports 34% of world merchandise trade by value. The Philippines and Taiwan were selected because of their central location in East Asia, a region highly dependent on air cargo-facilitated trade. The growing economic role of air cargo service clashes with the propensity of national governments to protect domestic air cargo interests from air cargo transnational corporations (TNCs). The primary question addressed in this research is to determine what factors influenced air cargo policy decisions by the Philippines and Taiwan during the 1990 - 1999 timeframe. A levels-of-analysis empirical approach is utilized that includes causal factors emanating from domestic and international sources, including interests, institutions, and ideas. The potential contribution of crises to policy outcomes is also considered. The themes that emerge from this research are the interplay between interests and domestic political institutions on policy outcomes; the role of TNCs as political actors; the influence of state-state bargaining on commercial policy outcomes; and the constraints imposed by international institutions on national decision-makers. The empirical argument presented is that economic globalization and the rise of TNCs are challenging the ability of national governments to pursue independent commercial policies for some, but not all, air cargo issue-areas. It is also argued that the structure of domestic political institutions plays an important role in policy outcomes by attenuating the influence of air cargo interests.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Political Science, General, Transportation
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > International Relations
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2263

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