In recent years, liberalization, privatization and deregulation have become commonplace in sectors once dominated by government-owned monopolies. In telecommunications, for example, during the 1990s, more than 129 countries established independent regulatory agencies and more than 100 countries privatized the state-owned telecom operator. Why did so many countries liberalize in such a short period of time? For example, why did both Denmark and Burundi, nations different along so many relevant dimensions, liberalize their telecom sectors around the same time? Kirsten L. Rodine-Hardy argues that international organizations – not national governments or market forces – are the primary drivers of policy convergence in the important arena of telecommunications regulation: they create and shape preferences for reform and provide forums for expert discussions and the emergence of policy standards. Yet she also shows that international convergence leaves room for substantial variation among countries, using both econometric analysis and controlled case comparisons of eight European countries.
• Well-written and theoretically innovative with clear policy implications • Shows the interaction of global markets, international organizations and states in the diffusion of technology and regulations • Analytical novelty and real-world significance
Contents
1. Understanding global regulatory reform in telecommunications – a paradigm shift; 2. Why change the rules? Explaining liberal telecom reform; 3. When and how do countries change the rules? Econometric analysis of the timing of establishing separate regulators and privatizing telecom incumbents; 4. Regulatory reform in central Europe – freer markets, European rules; 5. Northern European regulatory reform – liberal reform northern-style – 'regulation-lite'; 6. Conclusion: explaining change in a globalized world.
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