“The peoples of the vast Southeast Asian region of Zomia were successful in providing incentives against statecraft–that is, they successfully prevented their own appropriation by external states and successfully prevented local state formation–for most of their long history. James C Scott notes that Zomian populations disincentivized statecraft via ‘patterns of settlement, agriculture, and social structure.’ We describe these interrelated mechanisms–settlement, agriculture, and social structure–more broadly as (1) locational, (2) productional, and (3) cultural mechanisms to repel states.”
–Edward Peter Stringham and Caleb J. Miles. Repelling States: Evidence from Upland Southeast Asia
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This is an interesting read and conceptually it proves that a society can exist without a formal government, but Zomia has geography that allows them to resist intrusion from the outside and the area essentially is a subsistance area. I do not believe that the Zomia model has universal application.
But that said, Zomia does teach us that minimal government is possible. Our Founding Fathers were very close. If we could ever return to their model we would be a long way toward a society that protects real freedom and liberty.
[...] The Successful Prevention of a State . . . An interesting reason on why you’ve probably never heard of a place called Zomia, though it’s bigger than the U.S. [...]