We would not hear about Mao if it were not for Japanese occupation of China. Vietnam is a case in the point I'm trying to make - a state colonised by the French, which unleashed a revolution (mind that there was no revolution in Asian states not colonised by Europeans). What is more, there would be no American involvement and defeat in Vietnam if it were not for The USSR and China - without their support, the French could wipe theinsurgenets without the American help. Amefican colonies were not exactly the state - one can argue that the colonies were semi-states or puppet regimes that successfully cut off the strings attached to them by the puppet master.
I can also add, that neither Inca or Aztec empires were defeated by the conquered native tribes - it is the Spanish forces that did - while the native tribes played only auxiliary role.
Again the point I'm making is not that state-like instiutions are invincible, but that the force that defeats them is not a popular insurgency, but external forces - other regimes or environmental pressure, sometimes acting in concert with native insurgents.
wojtek