ABSTRACT
Introduction The collapse of communism and the demise of socialist central planning have refocused attention on the merits of market principles. Yet, in spite of the apparent general increase in appreciation for markets, it is not quite as obvious how widely the 1. fundamental, as well as the 2. more subtle lessons have been learned that the history of the socialist experiment has to offer. These more fundamental and subtle lessons have to do, in my view, with our understanding of the role of competition as an organizing principle in human social affairs. In what follows, I want to develop some thoughts on the functions that competition can serve in social organization, not only in markets but also in the realm of politics. More specifically, I want to discuss this question in a constitutional dimension, as an issue that pertains to the ground rules of a socioeconomic-political order. After developing the general argument, I shall elaborate on some of its implications for the constitutional choices involved in the process of European integration. My argument falls into three main parts. I shall, first, review some of the familiar arguments on the role of competition in ordinary markets (the first three sections). The second part will be concerned with the role of competition as an organizing principle in politics (the next two sections). In the third and last part I shall examine some implications for European constitutional concerns (the final section).
