That is not the alternative. Depending on your definition of "law," it doesn't necessarily imply government. In fact, a lot of functioning "law" today is non-governmental (one reason for this is the unsurprisingly high cost and inefficiency of the government's conflict mediation system). But moreover, even regardless of your definition of "law," it's naive to assume that the way government works isn't "based on connections and reputation" in just as bad of a way as you expect a government-less society might be.
