Cambridge University Press Antitrust and Global Capitalism, 1930–2004 (Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society)

The international spread of antitrust suggested the historical process shaping global capitalism. By the 1930s, Americans feared that big business exceeded the government's capacity to impose accountability, engendering the most aggressive antitrust campaign in history. Meanwhile, big business had emerged to varying degrees in liberal Britain, Australia and France, Nazi Germany, and militarist Japan. These same nations nonetheless expressly rejected American-style antitrust as unsuited to their cultures and institutions. After World War II, however, governments in these nations - as well as the European Community - adopted workable antitrust regimes. By the millennium antitrust was instrumental to the clash between state sovereignty and globalization. What ideological and institutional factors explain the global change from opposing to supporting antitrust? Addressing this question, this book throws new light on the struggle over liberal capitalism during the Great Depression and World War II, the postwar Allied occupations of Japan and Germany, the reaction against American big-business hegemony during the Cold War, and the clash over globalization and the WTO. Review "Anti-trust and Globalism provides the most through examination of this important subject so far." Wyatt C. Wells, The Journal of American History"This thoughtful, important volume should be compulsory reading for everyone who is interested in history of the world economy. Within the vast and growing literature on globalization, Freye makes a unique and highly original contribution." -Mira Wilkins, Journal of Interdisciplinary History Book Description This book describes how the international spread of antitrust suggested the historical process shaping global capitalism. About the Author Tony A. Freyer is University Research Professor of History and Law at the University of Alabama. He is the author of many articles and books, including Regulating Big Business: Antitrust in Great Britain and America, 1880–1990 (Cambridge, 1992). His book Little Rock on Trial: Cooper v. Aaron and School Desegregation (2007) won the J. R. Ragsdale Award from the Arkansas Historical Association for the best book on Arkansas History of 2007.