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32 Air & Space Law. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/airspaclaw32 and id is 1 raw text is: THE AIR L A AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION & SPACE W B R VOLUME 32, NUMBER 1, 2019 Coercive Diplomacy in the Skies By Marcelo L. Garcia and Roncevert G. Almond e world is experiencing a gradual yet decisive shift toward a new paradigm in international relations-one that is based on muscular sovereignty and assertive nationalism. Interna- tional trade is increasingly subject to geopolitics. In the realm of inter- national air transport, this shift has come in the form of coercive diplomacy involving civil aviation. From conflicts in the Crimean peninsula to the Taiwan Strait, this growing state practice has been referred to as the weaponization of airspace.' At issue is whether such actions are con- sistent with state obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).2 In some cases, coercive diplomacy has taken the form of abrupt airspace closures and the unilateral withdrawal of traffic and other commercial rights for designated airlines.3 In other cases, measures have aimed at seizing control of another state's airspace as a means to assert sovereignty over a disputed terri- tory.4 In these instances, aspects of civil aviation are not used to promote cooperation and comity between states, but as geopolitical tools that create new hazards continued on page 7 Published in The Air & Space Lawyer, Volume 32, Number 1, 2019. 0 2019 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. I