Governance as a spectrum of rules: a suggested approach

We point out that governance is better viewed as existing along a spectrum of rules rather than as either-or trade-offs in kinds of rules. This means that governance concepts at polar extremes, such as “abstract” and “concrete” orders, though useful heuristic tools for analysis and modeling, are also more properly interpreted as being nuanced in nature. Indeed, when considering governance of different types of goods, the factual record indicates that most goods are actually governed at the interstices between spontaneity and design. This calls, we ultimately suggest, for the application of more pragmatic concepts and methods of social analysis that blend Hayek’s views on governance with those of Ostrom and Buchanan.