As market competition replaces state regulation in many economic fields, competition policy has become an area of increasing significance. Against this background, Suzuki highlights the importance of the domestic political structure for competition policy. He does this through the comparative analysis of competition law reforms in Britain and Japan. He argues - controversially - that a country's domestic political structure should be considered a major factor in causing the reform of competition law, and rejects the established view that it is necessarily a result of changes in international economic and political conditions.

1. Introduction: International Convergence and Policy Network of Competition Law 2. Early History and the Cases of Invention-Type Policy Innovation in the 1970s 3. Actor Interests and Cohesion in the Competition Policy Network in the 1970s 4. Distribution of Power Resources in the Competition Policy Network in the 1970s 5. External Changes and the Reform of British and Japanese Competition Law in the 1990s 6. Interests of the Core Actors in the Competition Policy Network in the 1990s 7. Change in the Distribution of Power Resources from the 1970s to the 1990s 8. Conclusion: Reform of Competion Law and Development of Competition Policy Network in Britain and Japan