I'd like to highlight the big role of palace intrigue in autocracies. Sometimes I can tell Western political scientists haven't studied the other system much, and in their works are under the impression what the dictator says just goes, which is an oversimplification.
In reality, nobody defies the king to his face, but lieutenants will absolutely reinterpret, bend, quietly ignore or even fabricate the execution of orders to their advantage. Corruption is universal in non-democratic systems for this reason, and in some cases becomes difficult to distinguish from legitimate government workings.