This thesis contains an analysis of the role of the state in the privatization of two of the world's largest telecommunications operators, British Telecom (BT) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), illustrated by a comparative examination of the different means of intervention of the state at the three stages of the process, and the impact that state intervention has on the corporate governance of the enterprises concerned. / Chapter 1 clarifies the notions of privatization and control. The subsequent chapters are organized on the basis of the percentage of shares held by the state. Chapter 2 analyzes the legal problems accompanying "complete control" of the state during the corporatization stage of privatization, in which there is a one-man stock company with the state as sole shareholder. Chapter 3 outlines the different private and public law devices used by the state in order to exercise "internal control" on the company after the sale of part or all of the government-owned ordinary shares. Chapter 4 focuses on the "external control" which is the last weapon of the state to monitor enterprises that are already deemed to be "privatized" from an ownership point of view. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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