[aaomidi]

TBH modern dictatorships are a lot less obvious in the way you describing.

There are dictatorships, where a very select few people have absolute power, but there’s no visible dictator.

Iran is a country like this. There’s no visible dictator. It’s a game of power between the clergy, the military, and the civil government.

[wongarsu]

Those are more like aristocracies or oligarchies than dictatorships though. Though maybe those are not the best descriptions of Iran either

[cess11]

There is a long tradition of calling rule without care for the ruled 'tyranny'. Aristotle considered this the worst perversion of the best form of government, i.e. monarchy.