本文的目的在於檢驗並比較官僚政治理論及組織文化理論的解釋力。本文運用「最可能案例」及「最不可能案例」研究法，並配合「過程追蹤法」進行研究。 本文在進行因果解釋時，官僚政治理論及組織文化理論是自變項，而依變項則是美軍的空中運補能力，在將自變項操作化時，是從兩個理論中抽繹出五組對立的命題及假設，用波灣戰爭期間美軍空中運補的案例，來檢驗這五組對立的假設。而測量依變項的指標則包括美國空軍的基本準則、角色與任務、預算、兵力結構及組織變化等。根據研究發現，在波灣戰爭期間美軍空中運補的案例上，組織文化理論比官僚政治理論更具解釋力。
The purpose of this study is to test and compare the explanatory power of Bureaucratic Politics Theory and Organizational Culture Theory. In this article, “the most-likely case study,” “the least likely case study” and “process tracing method” are used as the research methods. In constructing a causal explanation, Bureaucratic Politics Theory and Organizational Culture Theory are treated as the independent variables. At the same time, the US military airlift capability is treated as the dependent variable. The independent variables are operationalized through five sets of proposition and hypotheses, which are derived from these two theories. By using these five sets of hypotheses, the explanatory power of the two theories are tested by the US military airlift case during the Gulf War. The indicators, which are used as the measurement of the independent variables, are the doctrine, roles and missions, budget, force structure and the organizational change of the US airforce. According to this study, the Organizational Culture Theory has more explanatory power than the Bureaucratic Politics Theory in explaining the US military airlift case during the Gulf War.
