You'd be right and wrong. First off, out of the gate, it's an anarchy. There are no known anarchies in this world. The closest thing is Switzerland, which allows all citizens to basically carry around guns with them, and has meeting summits for world leaders. How does it maintain sovereignty? By having everyone armed to defend the country. Second closest is the Holy Roman empire, which last years and years, despite being a disorganized mess.
"Nature abhors a vacuum," they say but actually it's just fear and uncertainty. In any case, no such restrictions exist here. Since it's there, there are forces both for its stability, and for its destruction. On the one hand, it is likely to cannibalize itself either through taxes, corruption, or something else. On the other, it has a healthy economy, doesn't appear to want to change (meaning no voting for leader, and no revolt, and no revolt), is a tax free state, and really isn't a state meaning there are no rules. It also runs a justice system very effectively on bread and circuses. Yeah there are many things kinda sick about the country, but I can see why Polly used to say she loved the country.
It's not for everyone, clearly. But between that and creepy wizards controlling everyone with smoke and mirrors, I think I trust a government that doesn't lie about what it is more. It's disorganized, it's greedy, and its prison are hypocritical. I don't think they claimed to be any utopia, whereas the other place has a whole magic kingdom that we later find out is fake, supported by science when most of the citizens are blissfully unaware of how the tech they use works or even what a machine is.
Anyway... this filler strip is kinda funny, because this is largely what Flipside has done with the gender roles of the characters. Bern, Maytag, and other women seem very much in the lead. The men on the other hand, are largely in the background.