Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of government in which religious authority is the source of political legitimacy and religious law governs society. Clergy or religious bodies hold or oversee political power.
- Political authority derives from God or religious law.
- Laws should implement religious commandments.
- Religious authorities should guide or control the state.
Theocratic rule appears throughout history, from ancient priest-kings to Calvin's Geneva and the Papal States. Modern examples include the Islamic Republic of Iran, founded in 1979 on Ayatollah Khomeini's doctrine of guardianship of the Islamic jurist, and the Taliban's Afghanistan.
Critics point to restrictions on women, religious minorities and dissenters, and argue that fusing religion and state corrupts both. Many believers favour separation of religion and state for this reason.
Countries and historical regimes whose 12-axis profile is closer to Theocracy than to any other ideology in the test.
Historical regimes
Theocracy is also the second-closest ideology for: Russia, Pakistan, Hungary, Imperial Japan, Saudi Arabia.
Method: each ideology is placed at a typical position on the 12 axes, scored from 0 to 100 toward the first pole. Ranks compare it with the other 45 ideologies; matches are 100 minus the average distance across all axes. The positions are our own calibration, not taken from any third-party source.