Competition policy has been a central forum for contesting the uneasy relationship between capitalism and democracy since the late nineteenth century. From the earliest policy debates, concerns that robust competition policies aimed at limiting economic concentration would disadvantage domestic producers featured prominently. This dynamic creates an international cooperation problem over competition policy that has intensified with the dramatic increases in globalization over the last several decades. Understanding the causes and consequences of this cooperation problem is central to understanding global governance of the world economy, including the ability of democratic states to manage global capitalism in a manner that sustains democracy. This essay frames the challenge that global competition policy has posed over the last hundred years and argues that democratic major powers have played a critical role in shaping the limited cooperation that has been achieved. A research agenda that develops integrated theories of domestic and international competition policymaking as well as a multi-method empirical agenda for describing and explaining policy outcomes and their consequences for economic inequality, growth, and democracy is an essential task for international relations scholars.

中文翻译：

---

维持资本主义和民主：全球竞争政策的教训

自 19 世纪后期以来，竞争政策一直是争论资本主义与民主之间不安关系的中心论坛。从最早的政策辩论开始，对旨在限制经济集中度的强有力竞争政策将不利于国内生产商的担忧占据了显着地位。这种动态在竞争政策方面产生了国际合作问题，随着过去几十年全球化的急剧增加，竞争政策的问题愈演愈烈。了解这一合作问题的原因和后果对于了解世界经济的全球治理至关重要，包括民主国家以维持民主的方式管理全球资本主义的能力。本文阐述了过去一百年来全球竞争政策所带来的挑战，并认为民主大国在塑造已经实现的有限合作方面发挥了关键作用。发展国内和国际竞争政策制定的综合理论的研究议程以及描述和解释政策结果及其对经济不平等、增长和民主的后果的多方法实证议程是国际关系学者的一项基本任务。