Law & Ordo: Exploring What Lessons Ordoliberalism Holds for African Competition Law Regimes

Abstract

For many years, it was believed that trade liberalization would address the lack of competition that many African economies suffer from. Recent insights seem to have falsified that belief. Many of those economies still suffer from a lack of competition and a prevalence of monopoly behaviour, often (enabled) by the State. So if trade liberalization did not do the trick, what other recipes are available? This article focuses on the added value that more rigorous competition law enforcement could bring, and seeks to derive insights from Ordoliberalism. Although often overlooked in recent years, it is submitted that the comprehensive conceptual framework of Ordoliberalism could provide tangible suggestions to strengthen competition in African economies. It provides a theoretical basis for introducing vigorous competition law enforcement, putting the competition rules in the centre of economic policy-making. It affords great weight to the consistency of economic policies and strongly cautions against any undue government influence, both through the enactment an ‘economic constitution’. It also provides scope provides analytical tools how to deal with the interaction between market power and vested interests. This article concludes that Ordoliberalism does in fact have various insights that could be helpful for spurring competition in Africa.