 The above discussion sketches a concept of governance, a concept clearly necessary for social science. We might understand law in two distinct ways. The first, traditional way regards law as a mode of governance, or, we might say, as a species of governance. On this account, some specific feature or features of a functioning governance system characterize law; these features identify the “essence” of law. Debates about the concept of law are thus debates over the features that are essential for law. 