International Organizations as Drivers of Telecommunications Liberalization in Eastern Europe, in Northern Europe-and in the Whole World?

Abstract

Privatization of state-owned enterprises, liberalization of markets, and re-regulation are secular trends of the last thirty years. Hence, a vast literature in political science, international relations, and international political economy studies the causes and consequences of the new “regulatory capitalism” (Levi-Faur 2005). Global Markets and Government Regulation in Telecommunications by Kirsten Rodine-Hardy contributes to this literature by directing our attention to the role of international organizations in fostering the diffusion of liberalization. The argument is that liberalization of the telecommunications sector—the establishment of regulatory agencies and the privatization of incumbent operators—is driven by international organizations. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the EU function as forums for information exchange and peer review and facilitate policy learning about institutional innovations (pp. 33–51). Thus, the theoretical argument draws on constructivist reasoning in international relations (Finnemore 1993). International organizations may put pressure on individual countries to comply with, for example, European directives, but (i) there is still leeway for national variation, and (ii) information exchange and socialization are as important as—if not more important than—“hard” coercion (pp. 52–3).