International Competition Policy between Centralism and Decentralism : A Systematic Analysis of the Benefits and Risks of International Antitrust

The ongoing internationalisation of business activities - including anticompetitive ones - fuels a controversial discussion about the pros and cons of implementing a supranational, global competition policy regime. This contribution presents a systematic analysis of the deficiencies of (i) exclusively relying on national competition policies and (ii) aiming for an uniform global antitrust regime. This includes an analytic view on the idea of an (institutional) competition of competition policies. The main conclusion is that a complex regime, combining advantages of decentralised and centralised elements is needed