This chapter introduces the book’s central theoretical framework: the dual state. Building on and extending Ernst Fraenkel’s classic concept, it offers a new explanation for the persistence of judicial independence in regimes hostile to liberal norms. The chapter argues that a stable dual state depends on containing prerogative interventions through centralized discipline and restricting normative jurisdiction through dejudicialization – both of which require a high degree of political consolidation. By reframing the autonomy-control relationship as a function of regime strength, this reconceptualization resolves a long-standing puzzle in the study of judicial politics under authoritarianism. While grounded in the Chinese case, the framework offers broader insights into the institutional logic of authoritarian legality across regimes.