I remember a comment on HN a little while ago which went something like, "Why does the government need to get involved? Why can't people just come together and figure out how to deal with it?" I replied pointing out that this is what government is.
That's just playing with multiple definitions. When people say "government" they mean the government, that is, the representative bodies that form our current system, not the abstract concept of any system by which a state is governed.
Governance is certainly necessary. Having "a government" is just one possible way of achieving it.
