TOWARDS AN INTERNATIONAL ANTITRUST AUTHORITY - KEY FACTORS IN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF COMPETITION POLICY

Negotiated access to markets through the internationalization of busin ess framework rules is of increasing importance. The article examines the political-economic factors that are contributing to, but also sett ing limits on, the greater in ternationalization of one such aspect of policy-competition policy. It analyzes whether internationalizing for ces are likely to transform existing international arrangements in com petition policy matters from those of a loose regime to that of a full y fledged international institutional system. The latter could be repr esented by recent proposals for an International Antitrust Authority. The four factors examined are: conflicting ideas about competition pol icy; the exercise of political power by nation states and business; th e roles and stances of international agencies; and democratic concerns about the accountability, representativeness, and transparency of com petition policy institutions. The analysis concludes that future forms of institution-building at the international level of competition pol icy are important. This is so because, if left totally as a set of int ernational regimes, competition policy may be arranged to an excessive degree in the interests of business power or in the interests of one or more dominant countries.