[roenxi]

Yes, undoubtedly. Although once appointed as a dictator the benevolence part normally slides.

So what happens in the happy case is a very complex system of figuring out who should be the dictator and when they need to be moved on. If you look at successful open source projects that process is often visible - a brutal communal negotiation (of global scope!) to work out who in the world is the person with the best motivation to control a project.