Book Review of Thomas K. Cheng, Competition Law in Developing Countries (c) 2020

The idealism of his thesis notwithstanding, Cheng’s book, in his own words, is reconciliatory rather than revolutionary. His proposal that developing countries enforce competition laws in the spirit of ‘informed divergence’ rather than converge to a norm, nevertheless, recognizes a standard formulated and honed in the West, from which these countries may diverge according to their capacity, institutions and needs. Also, unlike other scholars who have argued that competition law may itself be transformed into a tool for social regulation, Cheng does not question competition law’s neo-liberal foundations and does not imagine a world in which developing countries may eschew these foundations to formulate standards and principles which enable them to attain goals that go beyond economic development. What he does achieve, however, is a strengthening and deepening of the critical dialogue between development economics and competition law and for this it is, and is likely to remain, a must read for anyone interested in competition law and economic development or any intersection of the two.