The phrase "dictatorship without a dictator" has been used (sometimes misleadingly) to refer to:
- China under the Hu–Wen Administration
- Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser
- Modern-day Iraq
- Russia under Boris Yeltsin
- Sri Lanka under Maithripala Sirisena
- Syria under Bashar al-Assad
- The Second Polish Republic after the death of Józef Piłsudski
- The Second Portuguese Republic
- The Spanish State after the death of Francisco Franco
- The United States of America
- The Weimar Republic under the governance of Paul von Hindenburg, Heinrich Brüning, and Wilhelm Groener
- Yugoslavia under Paul Karađorđević