There's a difference between living on the fringes (power within oneself/independence) and lawlessness (power over others).
If you're a rebel with a cause, cool - forge ahead into space. If you're there just to shoot 'em up and have your way with the lasses, stay right out of my colony ship plzktnx.
Follow a leader out of respect, not fear.
The thing about the fringes is, there ain't no leaders.
The Western genre has severely overblown the actual state of affairs in the westward expansion of the U.S. when it comes to all the shoot-outs and outlaws. Most of the reality was that people saw the wide-open spaces as a chance to get away from others and make their own way. Translate that to a Sci-fi setting, where it is feasible to transport people to many different, life-supporting planets, and I don't doubt you'll get the same kind of progression. Surly individualists, religious idealists, expansionist exploitationists - your "rebels" with their sundry causes - will lead the way, and the various predators, parasites, and politicians will surely follow.
To drag this back on topic, we were told in one of the infodumps that the planet had a lot of populated areas. I had the impression that some were "nicer", and some were seedier. If you allow enough time for human expansion, and throw in aliens and lord-knows-what-all technology, you're bound to have areas that are lawless. When humans are around long enough, they spring up on their own; they wouldn't necessarily have to be on your colony ship.
(And, Biscuit, I didn't mean to drag you personally into an argument; I only meant to engage a non-U.S. P.O.V. I'm really a townie myself, so I would probably not find myself in a town like the one our protagonist seemed to enjoy so much.)