Policy Harmonization: Limits and Alternatives

Abstract

Globalization is an important reason for the current interest in the harmonization of national policies. In the European Community/Union harmonization of the national laws and policies of the member states was one of three legal techniques the Rome Treaty made available for establishing and maintaining a common market. The long history of policy harmonization in the EC/EU provides a good empirical basis for a more general analysis of the benefits and costs of a centralized approach to transnational policymaking. The main alternative to centralized harmonization is competition among different approaches to comparable policy problems.