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Why do some attempts to use legal institutions to exert central state control fail, while others succeed? Through a controlled comparison of the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), we analyse the institutionalisation of the procuracy, an agency charged with enforcing central legal directives. We show that institutional design, competition, and political support during critical junctures created a positive feedback for the institutionalisation of the procuracy in the USSR but left it weak in China. These findings contribute to our understanding of institutional development, state-building, and authoritarian legal control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]