Melike Arslan

Melike Arslan is a Lecturer at the Institute for International Management and Entrepreneurship at Loughborough University. Previously, she served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (2021–2022) and at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne (2022–2024). She holds a PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University (2021). Her research focuses on the legal and regulatory infrastructure of market economies, employing comparative-historical methodologies to analyze antitrust laws, corporate bankruptcy frameworks, and transnational legal diffusion.

Education:

• PhD in Sociology, Northwestern University (2021)
• Previous academic training in sociology and political economy

Research Interests:

• Comparative political economy of law and regulation
• Global diffusion of competition policies
• Institutional effectiveness in developing countries
• Legal foundations of economic systems

Recent Research Themes:

• Antitrust enforcement dynamics in Mexico and the U.S.
• Policy paradigms and institutional rigidity
• World Bank legal indicators and development outcomes
• Monetary sovereignty and global financial systems

Her work bridges sociology of markets and organizations with international political economy, emphasizing the interplay between legal frameworks and economic power structures. Ongoing projects explore long-term planning for climate change, subnational industrial policies, and the role of economic consultants in shaping legal decisions.