UNCTAD/Yeditepe Üniversitesi/IDRC Competition Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements İstanbul, 31 July - 1 August 2006 Harmonisation and Policy Transfer in Regional Trade Agreements Bahri Özgür Kayalı Yeditepe Üniversitesi and the University of Manchester

Policy Transfer - Definition “Policy transfer is a process where ‘governments study each other’s different methods, gauge the success of various policy alternatives and mimic the best practices employed elsewhere, with successful policies transferred deliberately and willingly.’(Bomberg and Peterson, 2000,6)

Policy Transfer in RTAs Legal Framework -Soft convergence and hard convergence Institutional set up -Vertical vs. horizontal Policy network (Links, personal contacts)

Policy Network? Heclo and Widalvsky, The Private Government of Public Body, Presented the world of Whitehall administration (British treasury) as a “village”. -Shared understanding -Methods of cooperation -Frameworks of compromise

Policy Network? “A policy network is a method of coordinating activity and may arise either spontaneously or through deliberate creation.” (Wilks, 2002, 3) “We define policy networks as (more or less) stable patterns of social relations between independent actors, which take shape around policy problems and/or policy programmes.” (Kickert et al, 1999, 6) Complex of organisations connected to each other by resource dependencies and distinguished from each other by breaks in the structure of resource dependencies. (Benson, 1975)

European Competition Network (ECN) The network operated according to three basic models: The Foundational Model (until about the mid 80s) Solar Model (took its basic shape during the 80s) Centralised Interactive Model (the current system) (Gerber, 2002)

The foundational model EU National

The solar model.

Centralised interactive model.

The Effects of ECN Formal legal concept Higher integration between the policy spheres of the EU and Member States Hard harmonisation of the laws The structure of the network will be significantly complex Information transmission Normative Influence (horizontal and vertical relationships in the network)