ABSTRACT
The more a state privatizes its governance, the more it turns to oversight as the way it exercises its territorial authority. By monitoring and ensuring the continuity of activities that it no longer handles directly, the state can maintain its overall control: it assumes the hierarchically superior role of regulating how the activities are performed. The purpose is to ensure that the state’s interests continue to be satisfied by the companies entrusted with these activities. Without oversight in place, it would be logical to expect companies to orient their business conduct toward their own interests in ways that might counter those of the state.
