Divergence and Convergence? Lessons from EU Competition Policy

European networks offer an excellent case for testing whether ‘Europeanization’ brings about convergence between national administrative actors. Whereas national administrations are long established, large and composite, and therefore, more likely to be resistant to the functional pressures that bring about convergence, national agencies are generally younger, smaller, and single purpose. They are also likely to have staff, who are less divided by national boundaries, and more bound together by shared training and outlook. It might be expected that these characteristics make the national agencies that belong to a European network more amenable to convergence.

This paper, which draws on original data collected by the authors, tests this hypothesis in the case of National Competition Authorities (NCAS). NCAs are an especially strong candidate for convergence, since in addition to the characteristics noted above, the European Competition Network (ECN) is an exceptionally juridified European network, which imposes significant obligations on national authorities, EU competition policy provides the template for much national legislation, and competition policy is widely regarded as a powerful and coherent epistemic community. The surprising finding is that, more than ten years after the creation of the ECN, divergent practices, outlooks and values persist.

 This paper explores the factors that account for this unexpected, but continued divergence.