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Governments are not necessarily good, but mediators (people who resolve conflicts and help with defense) are absolutely necessary unless you want our impulses to take over.
Pitcairn was once as close to anarchy as you'll ever get. Founded by mutineers, society was peaceful until everyone started a schism over what was considered fair treatment of the people there, and this combined with growing alcoholism to cause infighting until there was one man left to take care of all the women. Today, Pitcairn has an extreme cultural fear of alcohol; one sip of even beer or wine can get you arrested.
After that riot, Pitcairn enjoyed relative peace as people began to restrain themselves a little. However, the British decided to take advantage of the still-existent absence of significant power structures and take the island, and, due to being so far away, handed it over to New Zealand to help control it.
There was also a scandal in the 1990's and 2000's that saw all the men convicted of indecency, but this is debated and I don't really have faith the UK didn't spin anything on this faraway island. But the moral of the story is, if you have nothing in place, even if everyone tries their best to get along, impulse takes over. Yet even this I'd say is better than the "necessary evils" provided by monarchs and presidents.