Looking Inside the Blackbox: Competence Allocation in EU Competition Policy from an Actor-Centred Perspective

28 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2004

See all articles by Oliver Budzinski

Oliver Budzinski

Ilmenau University of Technology

Arndt Christiansen

Bundeskartellamt - German Federal Cartel Office

Date Written: April 1, 2004

Abstract

One of the most important challenges for economic policy in the 21st century is the ubiquitous process of globalisation. Traditional governance concepts based on sovereign nation-states are increasingly called into question. This is the reason why alternative modes of governance such as network governance or the European Open Method of Coordination have become popular. However, the bulk of the relevant literature leaves the important issue of the dynamics of competence allocation unexplored. Most commonly it is left untouched and treated as a "blackbox" instead. We aim to show that the more general framework of multilevel systems of institutions can contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics that determine the allocation of competences in such systems and its evolution. We present an institutional-economic analysis that views this allocation and its dynamics as the result of self-interested, strategically-behaving agents. Thus, we contribute towards a clarification of the "blackbox" of complex governance processes that will play a dominating role in 21st century's international economic policy. In this paper, we apply our approach to the specific field of EU competition policy. We examine in depth the fundamental changes currently going on in this field.

Keywords: Network governance, competence allocation, multilevel systems, European competition policy, merger control, cartel policy

JEL Classification: L4, K2, F2

Suggested Citation

Budzinski, Oliver and Christiansen, Arndt, Looking Inside the Blackbox: Competence Allocation in EU Competition Policy from an Actor-Centred Perspective (April 1, 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=525403 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.525403

Oliver Budzinski (Contact Author)

Ilmenau University of Technology ( email )

Ilmenau, D-98684
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.tu-ilmenau.de/wth

Arndt Christiansen

Bundeskartellamt - German Federal Cartel Office ( email )

Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 16
Bonn, 53111
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/

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