In terms lazy subordination and undeveloped personal power, power over can be an engaged relationship between the autocrat and the subordinate. Some people want to be dominated and to do so is engaging them, even if it is codependence. With the possible exception of physical force, as in terrorists on a plane, power over is a relationship that is often welcomed and not always destructive.

In some underdeveloped countries where the population is not educated and has very little developed personal power, a dictatorship can be beneficial. Joseph Stieglitz in his works on the World Bank and Jared Diamond in Collapse give examples of countries that have flourished under dictatorships, as well as some that have languished. It appears to be a stage of development for a people to need a power=over leader.