Clashing over Competition
This chapter explores a more recent example of informal cooperation: the International Competition Network (ICN). This is an informal organization that arose in the early 2000s to address global antitrust issues. It is widely viewed as successful, and functionalist theorists believe that they can explain its emergence quite well. Not so. In fact, there was considerable disagreement over whether antitrust issues are best addressed in an informal forum, like the ICN, or should be delegated to a formal organization: the World Trade Organization (WTO). This difference is somewhat puzzling for the two-step theory, because independent agencies on both sides of the Atlantic were the primary actors involved. But the chapter shows that this puzzle dissolves once one considers patterns of politicization: where politicization was greater, actors embraced formality; where it was lower, a preference for informality was maintained. Ultimately, power was essential for determining whose preference held sway.