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Competition Law and Policy as an Emerging IPE Issue

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The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Handbooks in IPE ((PHIPE))

Abstract

Competition policy seeks to constrain market power and safeguard market entry and contestability, mostly through legal and regulatory mechanism. It has traditionally been considered a domestic matter—warranting above all legal and economic analysis. I argue that competition policy is an important and inherently political emerging IPE issue. I identify three recent developments that make competition law and policy an important emerging issue for understanding international political economy: (1) a changing understanding of the political economy of trade as requiring competition law and policy as complements, (2) the rapid global diffusion competition law and policy, and (3) the resulting increased probability of cross-border conflicts—with corresponding incentives for increased transgovernmental cooperation. For each of these developments, I flag opportunities for research by IPE scholars.

For feedback on previous drafts, I am grateful to Laura Mahrenbach, Cindy Cheng, Sandra Hesse, and the members of the IR Research Group at the Hochschule für Politik/Bavarian School of Public Policy at the Technical University of Munich. This chapter is based in part on research supported by the US National Science Foundation under Law and Social Sciences Program Grant No. 1228483. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Additional information can be found at http://www.competitionpolicy.net.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The European Union and a few other, mostly federal jurisdiction also include subsidies (or ‘state aid’) regulation in their competition policy (see Büthe 2007; 2015).

  2. 2.

    Ordo-liberalism is a philosophical school of thought—motivated in part by the experience with cartels and trusts in Weimar and Nazi Germany—that rejects government intervention when it seeks to direct economic activity but sees the state as having a necessary ‘ordering’ function in the economy to safeguard individuals against any concentration of political and economic power that would threaten their freedom and equality of opportunity.

  3. 3.

    By my count, 35 jurisdictions (34 countries + the EU) had such laws on the books in 1990; and most of them also implemented/enforced them with at least moderate consistency.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hochschule für Politik, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Tim Büthe

  2. Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Tim Büthe

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  1. Tim Büthe
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Timothy M. Shaw

  2. Bavarian School of Public Policy, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Laura C. Mahrenbach

  3. Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

    Renu Modi

  4. School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Xu Yi-chong

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Büthe, T. (2019). Competition Law and Policy as an Emerging IPE Issue. In: Shaw, T.M., Mahrenbach, L.C., Modi, R., Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_28

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