There is always option to not to run that code or fork it if they misbehave so it can't be used to control bitcoin. Devs can't operate alone, they need other people to cooperate too.

Jonathan Bier - The Blocksize War, The battle for control over Bitcoin’s protocol rules (2021)

I really liked this popular book and I think that it demonstrates well how that power struggle goes in practice and not just in theory. Bitcoin is already battle tested on this.