The Politics of International Regulatory Cooperation

Abstract

This study investigates a policy area in which EU-US cooperation excels — competition policy — in order to reveal and understand the causes of international cooperation. Examinations of transatlantic cooperation in competition policy are particularly informative for understanding the political, economic and legal dynamics of international relations more generally. Indeed, this case displays a useful synthesis of the political, economic and legal dynamics that motivate formal and informal efforts to enhance bilateral and multilateral governance. These dynamics are all the more important because they are occurring in a policy area that fundamentally organizes domestic economies but increasingly addresses cross-border activities. Due to the international importance of the EU-US relationship across a number of policy areas, a better understanding of transatlantic competition relations may provide crucial insights into the future modalities and organization of bilateral and multilateral governance more generally.