No, a country cannot function without the governance it needs to prevent a vile-maxim of pillage-and-plunder from taking place.
The controversial part of the question is the elected portion of it. Are they chosen by who?
We, the people, must have a say in which laws and economics are enforced, so in essence, our interest is in “electing” laws not promoting the puppets grouped in artificial and oligarchically controlled parties who vie, yet often under-deliver, to strengthen the laws and economics of our beliefs.
My point is we must question how we elect and eject(!) government to reflect the laws and economics we want to see enacted upon. Our current model of government is ripe for reinvention and must be subjugated to a new truth.
But just because we deploy the wrong model of government (in violation of free-market principles) does not mean we don’t need any at all. Any grouping of people requires governance to avoid a few bad apples from destroying the trust put in by its loyal members, support the group’s common interests, and decide what ideology the group wants to be recognized for. The group in this context, of course, being the citizens of a country.