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Gelter, Martin --- "EU company law harmonization between convergence and varieties of capitalism" [2018] ELECD 77; in Wells, Harwell (ed), "Research Handbook on the History of Corporate and Company Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 323

Book Title: Research Handbook on the History of Corporate and Company Law

Editor(s): Wells, Harwell

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781784717650

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: EU company law harmonization between convergence and varieties of capitalism

Author(s): Gelter, Martin

Number of pages: 30

Abstract/Description:

Chapter 12 examines European (EEC, EC, and EU) efforts to harmonize European company law since the establishment of the European Economic Community. It identifies two distinct periods in which harmonization between national laws was sought, periods characterized by different models of capitalism and thus different approaches to harmonization. The first period was characterized by a harmonization program outlined largely before the UK’s accession to the then-European Economic Community, one dominated by a German approach emphasizing a ‘coordinated’ model of capitalism that did not centre on shareholder value maximization. The second period, which began in the late 1990s after a lull in harmonization efforts, was in contrast more heavily influenced by the UK and centred on a more ‘liberal’ model of capitalism focusing on shareholders and, increasingly, the stock market.