Corporations

A corporation is, for all intents and purposes, a form of government whose citizens are also its employees. Everyone who works for a corporation is typically a citizen of said corporation. The exceptions are when corporations operate within the boundaries of governments.

Corporations are different from traditional governments in that they are able to operate within the boundaries of other nations/governments. Corporations may have their base of operations anywhere, and isn't dependent upon location of its people like a traditional government does. In some ways, a corporation is an inverse government, with the bulk of its administration left up to its citizenry to execute, rather than just offloading all the issues onto elected or appointed officials.

While the head of a company may be aligned with being a totalitarian, they can be replaced very easily if the corporation begins to lose profits or can't sustain itself. It is also nearly impossible to physically force people who could be many light years away to do what you want them to do -- that's the just the nature of operating in the universe.

Corporations may also be integrated with a traditional government, operating for/within the bounds of that government, and not necessarily its own "nation."