Diploma Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1,0, University of Heidelberg (Alfred-Weber-Institut), language: English, abstract: In recent decades, rapidly progressing economic integration has increasingly challengedthe traditional distinction between sovereign nation states as monopolisticsuppliers of public goods on the one hand and an international sphere on the otherhand. The aim of economic policy on the national level was to promote thepopulation's welfare, whereas on the international level economists stressed thepositive effects of cross-border division of labour through international trade.However, as a consequence of economic integration individuals and businessesare subject to legislation and regulation from a multitude of governmental bodiesand layers while the sovereign powers of nation state shrunk because individualsand business became more and more mobile. The strict separation between thenational and the international level therefore "no longer seems to grasp the recenteconomic, social, and legal developments in a globalised world" and "multi-levelgovernance [has] been suggested as an alternative approach".Multi-level governance is especially important in the European Union whereeconomic integration increased the mobility of persons, firms, and capital enormouslywhile regulatory competences were only partially harmonized. In the fieldof company law, harmonization has not been successful so f...