Agencies, Networks, Discourses and the Trajectory of European Competition Enforcement

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Stephen Wilks of the University of Exeter Department of Political Science discusses Agencies, Networks, Discourses and the Trajectory of European Competition Enforcement.

ABSTRACT: This article assesses European competition enforcement from a perspective of political science using an institutionalist approach. It examines the key role of competition agencies, the way in which they cooperate through regulatory networks, and explores the coherence of the European Competition Network. It includes an exploration of the diversity of European competition agencies. It examines the idea of the European "common competition culture" and analyses the proposition that European competition policy is biased towards a neo-liberal, or Anglo-Saxon, model of economic organisation which has been extensively influenced by transatlantic experience and by the adoption of a consumer welfare principle. It concludes by noting the French backlash against a neo-liberal emphasis and raises questions about the accountability of the agencies and the competition policy itself.