Mancur Olson's "stationary bandit" theory explains how autocratic governments can emerge from anarchy—and why they might actually benefit the population.
"A stationary bandit has an encompassing interest in the territory he controls and therefore an incentive to make it prosperous."
The logic is simple: if you're going to keep extracting from a population, you want that population to be productive.
This creates an incentive alignment between ruler and ruled that doesn't exist with roving bandits or pure anarchy.
The stationary bandit will:
• Provide protection from other bandits
• Establish property rights (so people invest)
• Build infrastructure (roads, courts)
• Keep tax rates sustainable
This doesn't make the stationary bandit good—just better than the alternative.