摘要:

Abstract.Competition policy has become a salient issue in the last decade. The purpose of this article is to widen discussion amongst political scientists of an issue that has been dominated by the disciplines of economics and law. The concept of a competition policy is the foundation stone of the entire European Union. It lies at the very heart of efforts to establish a common market and within the EU competition policy arena the decision making powers have laid firmly with the supranational institutions. This article provides an overview of the issue; it traces the constitutive foundations of policy and discusses the functions of the core EU competition policy actors. It is primarily concerned with the European Commission, in particular, DGIV. The paper accounts for DGIV's metamorphosis in the 1980s and the myriad of problems now confronting its procedures and efficiency in the 1990s. Whether these defects can be resolved will ultimately determine the fate of DGIV. Arguments for institutional reform are raging through the European institutions and DGIV provides no exception. The paper concludes with a discussion on the plausibility of the creation of an independent European Competition Office, modelled on the role of the German Federal Cartel Office.

ISSN:0304-4130    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1995.tb00808.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.The article examines EC competition policy from a political science perspective, analyzing the political and institutional considerations which inform the development of the Commission's controlling capacities in competition. It concentrates on policy towards small businesses in manufacturing. We argue that the Commission's general capacities in the formation and the administration of competition policy have been growing in both the merger‐controlling aspects and in the control of state subsidization. Against this background, the handling of state aid to small businesses presents us with a paradox: the more developed the enforcement system in competition, the less the Commission applied it to national subsidization of small‐scale production. The role of EC competition policy and particularly the subtle handling of state subsidies should be analyzed as part of the developing system of Community policy vis‐à‐vis small business, encompassing measures at the EC and national levels. Community policy has emerged as a result of an accommodation between different EC institutional and domestic political objectives, and to some extent this accommodation has been achieved at the expense of policy content. The article traces the development of Community policy in this area from the early 1970s to the adoption of the first‐ever detailed policy guidelines in 1992, and suggests an analytical scheme for explaining the emergence of small business promotion as an issue in EC institutiona

ISSN:0304-4130    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1995.tb00809.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.The first object of this paper is to determine whether in post‐Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe there is a cross‐class consensus in favour of the collective state provision of welfare; an egoistic consensus favouring individual responsibility; or dissensus. Factor analysis of data from the New Democracies Barometer, a multinational survey in nine countries ‐ the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus and the Ukraine ‐ produces a scale of attitudes toward state or individual provision of welfare. It shows dissensus in each country. Three alternative causes for dissensus ‐ socioeconomic differences, political values and national contexts ‐ are tested with multivariate statistical analysis. Socio‐economic differences are by far the most important cause of disagreement about welfare. Political values have little independent influence upon attitudes to welfare, and national differences are only marginally important. The results raise the possibility that there may be convergence on welfare values between East and West European countries through similar patterns of within‐n

ISSN:0304-4130    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1995.tb00810.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.Roubini and Sachs provided the first systematic test of the idea that political structure the size, composition, diversity, and/or stability of a governing cabinet ‐ is related to budget deficits. In this paper, we take issue with several of Roubini and Sachs' choices concerning data and operationalization, and argue that their approach cannot offer clear conclusions about the relationship between national political structure and budget deficits. We test the ‘strength of government’ hypothesis using central government finance data on 16 countries, 1959–1990. We measure deficits in a way that maximizes comparability across countries but avoids the potential problems of standardizing by GDP. We examine carefully the definition and measurement of ‘strength of government’, in light of recent theoretical and empirical work in comparative politics. We perform pooled time‐series regression analysis of deficit change in 16 OECD countries for the period 1959–1990. We argue that while structural differences between governments may have little impact on deficits during good economic times, they may become especially noticeable and influential during periods when governments struggle to cope with severe ec

ISSN:0304-4130    

DOI:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1995.tb00811.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1995

数据来源: WILEY