The foreign trade policies of the industrialized countries have become increasingly complex. The states in question do not apply uniform policies to all other countries but operate different arrangements for different groups of countries. The divergencies can be easily adduced as evidence in...

Article 2 of the Treaty of Rome describes the task of the European Community as to encourage stability and growth "by establishing a Common Market and by progressively approximating the economic policies of Member States".

Digitisation processes have – often through disruptive innovations – injected additional competition in many markets, be it online retailing, new transport platforms, electronic banking and brokerage, online travel agencies or new media formats. At the same time, a number of companies,...