Fragmented power

There's something I've often noticed in various works. Putting aside deliberately simplistic works, often when we talk about a king or a centralizing ruler, we see him simply trying to bypass other powers or take their prerogatives, or simply establish allies and family, creating a dichotomy between the oppressor and his followers and the oppressed. I've rarely seen rulers who, to gain more power, instead attempted to divide it more fragmentarily, so that no one could challenge them. Everyone knows about divide and conquer, but it always applies externally, never internally, and I think that's a shame because it could yield so many interesting ideas.

A while ago, I started writing a Game of Thrones fanfiction, planning it as a sort of sequel to Fire and Blood Part II. In it, I tried to imagine how Daenerys might have ruled the Seven Kingdoms, indulging her somewhat despotic nature without driving her mad. Basically, I imagined it working like this: separating the office of lord of the region from personal property; giving the cities autonomous collegial/communal legislation, stripping it from individual lords and tying them directly to the crown; establishing courts that stripped individual lords of judicial powers; creating alternative cultural institutions to the citadel to train a multitude of more specialized professionals, but less tied to an order with its own interests. In short, creating a more complex state, involving many more people who individually have less power but are more directly tied to the crown. I've used this idea a couple of other times, and it has always provided me with variety and more nuanced stories. What do you think?