Flying With the EU : The Movement Towards a Global Aviation Hegemony

This paper examines the European Unions (EU) strategic use of Comprehensive Air Transport Agreements (CATAs) as instruments of norm diffusion and regulatory influence in international aviation.Focusing on four agreements with the United States, Canada, Qatar, and ASEAN.The research explores the aeropolitical dynamics that underpin these partnerships and assesses the effectiveness of the EUs efforts to export its regulatory norms.Proposing a theoretical framework that utilizes the contradiction of aeropolitical dynamics to examine the rationale of the parties in the agreement, the research attempts to identify tensions between regulatory convergence and sovereignty sentiments, as well as market liberalization and strategic national interest.Through a comparative analysis, the research hopes to reveal that while the EU has made significant efforts in shaping global aviation norms, its success is uneven and largely dependent on the partners regulatory capacity, geopolitical orientation, and willingness to internalize EU standards.Drawing on specific concepts from international relations theory such as strategic adaptation and norm localization, the research illustrates how international cooperation in aviation is characterized by complex, often contradictory dynamics.Utilizing the observations from the analysis, the research hopes to examine the effectiveness of the EUs attempt at norm diffusion.Ultimately, the research hopes to contribute to the understanding of how the EU leverages soft power, market access, and institutional arrangements to reshape international air transport governance.Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Premise of the Current Situation 3. The European Union as a Potential Aviation Power 4. The EU Comprehensive-style Air Transport Agreements 5. Contrasting the Dynamics of the Aeropolitics 6.The European Unions Norm Diffusion 7. Conclusion