Al-Ameen, Abayomi --- "Antitrust Pluralism and Justice" [2012] ELECD 414; in Zimmer, Daniel (ed), "The Goals of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Goals of Competition Law

Editor(s): Zimmer, Daniel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857936608

Section: Chapter 14

Section Title: Antitrust Pluralism and Justice

Author(s): Al-Ameen, Abayomi

Number of pages: 24

Extract:

14. Antitrust pluralism and justice
Abayomi Al-Ameen*

INTRODUCTION

Theories are extremely important or else antitrust law will make no sense.1
However, theories themselves do not guarantee us perfection in antitrust.
We must not lose sight of the fact that even with qualitative exposition on
antitrust, the divergence of theoretical insights through which competi-
tion issues are addressed gives to antitrust institutions both pain and gain
with equal measure: the continued debates between and about the relevant
theories afford robustness for antitrust itself2 but at the same time, the
intensity of such debates often leaves antitrust in a state of delirium.
In order to reduce the conceptual problems in antitrust, I propose a
change in the paradigm of antitrust analysis by making a modest contri-
bution to the understanding and implementation of antitrust theory and
practice. The theme of this chapter is that it may be better to expound
and decide on antitrust cases on the basis of what individuals value and
desire.3 Thus, since the interests of individuals are bound to differ, insti-


* Ph.D. candidate, Swansea University, UK. I thank Professor Jukka Snell
and Dr Bebhinn Donnelly for their support. I am also grateful to the participants
of the ASCOLA conference particularly Professor Eleanor Fox for her invaluable
advice.
1 J Drexl, L Idot and J Monéger (eds) Economic Theory and Competition

Law (Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2009), vii. Note that the proposal made in this
chapter is limited to the behavioral aspect of antitrust that ...