The ‘End of History’ for corporate law and governance has come to a messy conclusion, upending many assumptions on which the post-Cold War economic order operated. This new global environment has ushered in an era of geoeconomics – the pursuit of power politics using economic means. Geoeconomics leverages, curtails or blocks the actions of private, profit-oriented commercial enterprises to increase state power vis-à-vis geopolitical rivals. This article explores the potential implications of geoeconomics for corporate governance, with a focus on U.S. firms. These include potential ways in which geoeconomics may affect the policy environment for corporate governance, as well as the implications for firm-level governance in the following areas: (1) board and senior executive expertise, (2) oversight of geopolitical risk, (3) compliance, (4) supply chain management, (5) litigation risk, and (6) public and government relations. It also considers the implications of the ‘return of history’ for policy makers and scholars of corporate governance worldwide.
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