Competition Law and Policy in the Global South: Power, Coercion and Distribution

Abstract Countries in the Global South have adopted competition laws and pursued competition policies very similar to countries in the North. This arrangement can be traced to various coercive powers at play—from trading partners in the North, international organizations to development banks, among others. As a result, the adopted laws are often unsuitable to the local needs of the countries in the South and their enforcement policies are often shaped by global pressure. This has alienated countries in the Global South from pursuing competition enforcement policies that could be empowering to their firms, consumers and communities at large. One way to resist and challenge these coercive powers is to pursue alternative competition policies, not alien to the Western nations themselves. In these alternative configurations, competition laws are squared with goals of industrialization and distributive equality. Pursuing these alternative competition goals challenges the dominance of the static model of competition policy aiming to achieve allocative efficiency. Examples from many places around the world are illustrated to show how competition policy, at crucial times of their development, were broadened to encompass an industrial agenda. The latter, more suitable for countries in the South, is discussed as a means of counter-coercion. It is discussed alongside an elaborate program for distribution to assure that the benefits of industrialization do not befall upon only a few. The aim of such a distributive program, built into competition enforcement, is to bring social justice concerns within the purview of competition policy.