ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the transferability of law from one nation and culture to another in the context of the movement both to harmonize and to internationalize competition law, particularly as it has developed in the United States and the European Union. It analyzes the transferability of national law from a number of historical and philosophical perspectives, focusing on the ideas first developed by Montesquieu and debated by comparative law scholars from Montesquieu's time. The chapter examines the explicit and implicit assumptions that United States antitrust law can or should serve as a model for competition law for the rest of the world. It offers suggestions for the process that central and eastern European nations, and other developing market economies, should use in developing indigenous competition regimes. The chapter ends with neo-realist approach to harmonizing international economic law. Neo-realism also requires a new conception for the expert in comparative competition law and a new focus on the harmonization of values.
