A Study of the Institutional Changes in the Aviation Safety Management System

The purpose of this study is to review the changes in the aviation safety management system, how that system has evolved and what forces caused these changes to take place. Also included is an examination of the development process of the aviation safety management system in view of the new institutionalism, identifying the patterns of change. Based on the results of this study, I propose policy methods to design a desirable civil aviation safety system with a view toward raising the safety standards in the Korean civil aviation community. The major analysis variables are as follows: first, aviation accidents caused by external factors and international standards as independent variables; second, environmental changes and political processes affecting aviation safety management system as major mediating variables; and third, the aviation safety management legal system, the aviation safety management organizations and an expert participation system as dependent variables. The institutional changes and continuance of the aviation safety management system show that when specific circumstances arise, the continuance lasts depending on the path dependency, and in a certain circumstance, when immanent changing factors reach a critical point, the system suddenly changes by a punctuated equilibrium, which are all included in this study.