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For about a decade, the intensifying debate on corporate governance has led to multiple initiatives promoting rules of “best practices.” These initiatives are championed by a great variety of actors, including institutional investors, international organizations, national governments, and corporate managers themselves. They have brought about several so-called corporate governance codes, which are applicable on a voluntary basis and contain some recommendations that are often represented as an “ideal” solution. At a time when ideas on corporate governance are promoted on a large scale and there is growing consent that they represent a universal standard, a critical examination of their theoretical underpinnings may prove helpful to avoid being locked into a narrow and possibly counterproductive perspective.