The Transition Of Social Coalition And Anti-monopoly Policy's Softening

The Sherman Antitrust Act passed by Congress in 1890 is the first Antitrust Law of United States,also the pioneer of the modern competition laws all over the world.The Act itself proves the necessary what state interferes monopolized big business.After silence more than one decade,the strict trait of the competition policy of United States set up which was identified by a famous monopoly charge 1911.Standard Oil Trust was ordered to break up into 34 independent companies with different boards of directors in the case.However,American strict tradition in the policy wasn't retained in the overseas anti-monopoly legislation after World War II.The tradition even was challenged in American home turf thanks to the antitrust law case between United States and Microsoft Corporation in 2001.How can we understand United States antitrust law's strict trait and its change in different situations? Undoubtedly,this is an important lesson for competition policy and the theme of relationship between government and enterprises in modern states.In the first part,we focus Social Coalition Approach which is the key tool to the study,especially its theoretical content and manipulation procedure.In the routine issues of Comparative Political Economy,Social Coalition Approach is used to describe the political base of an economy policy like public opinions.In the image of the approach,what people think about a policy relies on their own economy motivation,then they form advocacy groups and social coalitions further which mean attempts to affect the policy.So as a new subject,competition policy is applicable to Social Coalition Approach reasonably.In the study,there are four advocacy groups as stakeholders for the policy.They are big business involved in monopoly,medium-sized and small enterprises who are industrially linked to the former,politicians and public who are both the customers and voters.Secondly,we research the historical root of the American antitrust law's strict trait,and why it can be regarded as something unique through a country comparison of the anti-monopoly legislation between United States and Japan.Displayed by the analysis of Social Coalition Approach,politicians' changeable attitude toward corporate trust decides the birth and subsequent deadlock of the Sherman Antitrust Act.Of course it explains the end of Standard Oil Trust as well.In Japan post WWII,although the Antitrust Law is forced to duplicate by United States,there is hardly support from any domestic classes.The story indicated the rapid decline of Japanese competition law shortly after the Allied occupation.In fact,the social coalitions about modern competition policy are influenced obviously by the history and tradition of a country.Nevertheless,the American political economy in Progressive Era(1897-1920)which shaped the special antitrust law system.In the third part,there is another social coalitions beneath the case United States v.Microsoft Corp.at the turn of the millennium.And we can find out something different between it and the story from the case of Standard Oil Trust.Except medium-sized and small enterprises,politicians and public in United States overall didn't approve the potentially strict anti-monopoly interfere for Microsoft.In this case,the political attitude was explained by economy reasons like political party funding and Modern Corporations' two-way embeddedness to the globe and civil society.Comparing with Institutional logics which supported early days of United States competition policy,economy interests is a more effective motivation,which agrees the preset of Social Coalition Approach.Above all,political science provides the history of competition policy in United States a concise alternative explanation.The general attitude of politicians is the key factor to all-time change of United States Antitrust Law.Eventually,we think it's more hard to adjust contemporary relationship between government and enterprises,especially in political way.And the viewpoint is fairly reasonable for nowadays and future,of course for Western world and China.