The radicalness, profundity and magnitude of Ostrom’s proposition could hardly be
exaggerated. To make things even more interesting and difficult to dismiss on grounds of
improper radicalism, in the new Ostromian perspective, the traditional Public Administration
theory, with its focus on bureaucracies and hierarchies, is not negated or abolished.
It is simply relegated to be a subdivision, a part of a broader and more general theoretical
and normative perspective. The new relationship was supposed to be one between a general
theory of social order and governance and a particular theory, relevant for certain domains
and historical moments. In brief, seen from the Public Choice standpoint, the Ostromian
rendition of Public Choice in Public Administration is thus not mere advocacy of an
analytical method, of the application of a mode of reasoning to areas to which it hasn’t