Well, Han isn’t operating under license…Han is a victim of people operating under license.

We are big mega corp. We have exclusive rights to trade in this sector…and we stretch those rights to claim rights we don’t actually have, because we can because we have big ships with big guns, and powerful shareholders back home who like profits and manipulate justice.

You are small trader just trying to do what you legally are allowed to do, and maybe some extra legal stuff that you morally should be allowed to do if we hadn’t bought the law. But as a result, you are declared smuggler, pirate, unlicensed operative…charged with having no sneeze guard on the salad bar…whatever we want to charge you with. So you equip your ship with guns, speed and shields and embrace the lifestyle of thumbing your nose at the man.

Point being, I don’t think either the Empire or the Alliance has to be a failed state to get to Han and Mal. They just have to be your ordinary every day bought and paid for successful state.