Maybe we have really different ideas about what "Mad Max" means. In ancient, medieval, and early modern periods, many regions had some form of government and economy. Politics was already "international," and so was trade. System of taxation, currency, classes of people to do the necessary specialized jobs (farmers, artisans, scribes, etc.). There was law, and even rights. There was some form of policing, though it invariably served the powerful rather than the powerless. There was an educational system (though, again, mostly for the elite), and institutions for preserving knowledge and cultural legacy. Sure, all this varied from period to period, region to region, etc. But unless you deliberately disappear (the pre-modern equivalent of "going off the grid"), I don't know how likely it was to find oneself in the sort of anarchic solo homesteading with marauding bandits that want to "take your stuff." There were people coming to "take your stuff" for sure, but those were the representatives of the government, and the stuff they took was called taxes.