This innovative textbook, now in its second edition, presents EU competition law in political, economic and comparative context. It brings competition law to life from an EU and global perspective, with cross currents of trade and industrial policy and attention to the intervention of the state in the market. Quintessentially readable, the book deftly and concisely excerpts the key cases and embeds them in explanatory materials, including policy statements and regulations. It is entirely up to date and integrates, for example, new issues of power in the digital economy. Notes accompanying the cases raise hard questions and explain the fascinating issues underlying contemporary competition policy in the European Union and around the world.

The book covers the full range of competition law and policy subjects, namely: the Treaties and the single market, cartels, other horizontal and vertical agreements, abuses of dominance, merger control, and state restraints including State aids.

Among key features, the book:

• integrates law, economics and policies, providing a holistic sense of competition law and its place in the EU system

• is unusually concise, given its coverage, while explaining the critical nuances of cases by means of notes and questions

• provides a unique comparative perspective by including excerpts of landmark US antitrust cases and numerous other comparative references.

This book is a perfect textbook for students of EU competition law and even competition law in general, given that most nations in the antitrust family of the world build their competition laws upon the EU model. It is useful for specialized seminars on European, US, and other nations’ and regions’ competition laws. It is also an excellent desk book and resource for academics, enforcers and practitioners in the field.