Coordination Rights, Competition Law and Varieties of Capitalism

Bibliographic Data

ID6246136
AuthorsChase Foster (0000-0001-6364-1305, SOAS University of London, London, UK), Kathleen Thelen (0000-0003-4102-8504, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Year2025
Volume58
Issue6
Pages1199-1237
Publication date2025-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4140 • E-ISSN: 1552-3829
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00104140241259461
OpenAlexW4400839408
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited91

Competition law is a constitutive institution in capitalist markets, establishing the rules for when interfirm coordination is allowed and where competition is required (Paul, 2020). Yet comparativists have spent decades debating the varieties of capitalism framework—which places the issue of coordination at the center of the distinction between capitalist types—while paying virtually no attention to cross-national variation in antitrust rules. This article develops an original theoretical framework to conceptualize the relationship between competition law and the organization of capitalism. We go beyond the usual binaries (coordinated vs. liberal market economies, “restrictive” vs. “permissive” antitrust regimes) to disentangle two dimensions of the law that fundamentally shape patterns of coordination and competition both across regulatory jurisdictions and over time. Applying our framework to analyze the evolution of American and European competition law, we show how a comparative coordination rights framework can be used to conceptualize key institutional changes within contemporary capitalist systems

Capitalism · Competition (biology · Competition law · Economic system · Economics · Law and economics · Market economy · Monopoly · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Corporate Governance and Law · Law · Merger and Competition Analysis · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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