I think that the most effective way for a ruler to retain order is justice. Justice has many components to it. They mostly fall under Law and Order, but justice is key. We can have numerous laws, but if the are ridiculous, like "Only the First Lady may wear red" then we have a problem. For example, when a parents slaps a child for picking up the cat by its tail or for painting on the walls, that's just. Or for the law of having to pay double after stealing something is reasonable. And besides the law, a ruler must have fitting punishment for those who do not obey the laws. Someone shouldn't be thrown in prisoon because they drove twenty MPH above the speed limit. And the death penalty isn't for those who stole a $1000 pearl necklace. And the leader themselves should be able to understand the justice. What is the point of a king who doesn't realize how to best work with those who have broken the law? Nothing. Jusctice covers it all.

I think there is geographical luck. Papua New Guinea has poor soil and a limited amount of agriculture. There are almost no animals there, and they have to eat spiders for protein. In the Middle East there used to be city-states and villages. Those villages needed crops. Egypt had very fertile land by the Nile. In Africa, they grew millet and yams, but were lacking for squash grown in the Americas. In China, there were no animals that could be domesticated and eaten or used as work animals. People had to harvest the rice by themselves by hand. India has some food, but no animals. the ZFertile Crescent, or Mesopotamia, was the luckiest. They had horses, goats, and sheep. For them, it was easy to grow barley, rye, and wheat. Even nowadays, in New Guinea, they have to work hard and not cut slack just to feed themselves.