Competition Laws, National Interests and International Relations

Book excerpt: Most of the competition laws currently enforced by states aim to protect consumer welfare and promote fair competition by regulating against anticompetitive behavior. Yet despite the shared objectives the global community does not have a common global competition law. In exploring the reasons for this, this book takes a unique interdisciplinary approach by using international relations theories to illustrate the relationship between the enforcement of competition laws and international relations through an analysis of competition cases relating to cartels, extraterritoriality, and corporate mergers and acquisitions. Through an examination of this relationship, this book will consider why the views held by state leaders on the condition of international relations may at times lead them to either arbitrarily over-enforce or disregard their competition laws to the detriment of fair competition and consumer welfare. This book also provides suggestions for global business investors who face competition law issues on how they may accommodate such views.