Governments emerged to organize public authority, and public institutions developed to perform essential public functions on behalf of society as a whole. Millions of individuals cooperate every day because functioning public institutions establish and enforce the rules that make such cooperation possible. An institution may continue to process applications, issue documents, hear cases, treat patients and teach children while still failing in its public purpose. The outward appearance of government exists even though the institution’s public purpose has never determined how it operates. It is to replace governance through personal relationships and political bargains with governance through public institutions organized around their public functions.