You might like the book Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think. The entire book is dedicated to analyzing historic examples of Super Hard Mode for governance, and how solutions can emerge that reduce violence and other undesirables without what we would recognize as a government or state.

It's a pretty accessible pop-econ book with a compelling premise and a good amount of historical examples and citations.

http://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-Unbound-Self-Governance-Cambri...

Replace "anarchy" with "self-organization" or "decentralized governance" to make it sound a lot less scary. I've just started a pop econ book on this topic (after watching the author's video) that seems interesting so far.

http://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-Unbound-Self-Governance-Cambri...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7K-0ohtb4Y