I find myself wondering what exactly differentiates a "government" from a "family council" or "tribal leadership" or whatever other phrase you want to use to describe an "authority-wielding-body with a monopoly on force."
I think "governments" are as old as people, and probably older. Many social animals have leaders who dominate the rest of the herd.
My feeling is that governments have always been here, they've just gotten bigger and maybe a little more sinister.
and from the wikipedia:
"British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who found a correlation between primate brain size and average social group size."
that brings us to possible effect of social networks (which either help to overcome brain size limitation of social group size or help that brain function to atrophy - the exact effect on the brain is yet to be determined) on the government.
As a member of a bellicose family, I can assure you that family members (often older and respected by both sides) acting as mediators are pretty common :)