The newly revised Guidelines on Corporate Governance
of State-Owned Enterprises (2015) by the OECD are fast emerging as a new
regulatory paradigm for the administration of State-owned enterprises and the organization
of the State ownership function. This article analyses the Guidelines’ policy
prescriptions, governance strategies, and integration into global governance. Noting
that the instrument operates by governing the shareholder’s internal make-up,
decision-making and objective setting, the article argues that the Guidelines
amount to a robust model for an ideal State shareholder—the Good State
Shareholder. Efficient, engaged, and accountable, the Good State Shareholder
emerges as a critical actor in the contemporary global economy, where States continue
to amass and command immense shareholder power. However, when juxtaposed with the
recent attempts by the UN to adopt State ownership as an instrument of human
rights governance, the fault lines of the Good State Shareholder model, as well
as the emerging techniques of shareholder governance, are exposed.