[beerandt]

I'm not saying they're the same, but they hardly share just the one characteristic with government. It's just a different combination of characteristics than what most are used to.

Monarchies and nobility have the family based power structures and inheritance.

And locals go to the family for justice, similar to going to elders for dispute resolution in some cultures.

And almost all government power over locals ultimately relies on the threat of violence, we just call it police power.

I'm not advocating for it as an ideal system of government (or any form of government that I want to live under), but to discount it entirely is to not truly understand the dynamics at play. Or the circumstances of how such groups come to power.