Theocracy

Theocracy (Greek, theokratia, “government by a god”), constitution, or polity, of a country in which God is regarded as the sole sovereign and the laws of the realm are seen as divine commands. By extension a theocracy is a country in which control is in the hands of the clergy. This differs from the form of state typified by traditional Japan or ancient Babylonia, in which the ruler was also high priest of the national cult; the pharaohs of ancient Egypt ruled what was close to a theocracy, though in practice their rule was more bureaucratic than theocratic. The typical example of a theocracy is that established by the Hebrew lawgiver Moses. Later attempts to found theocratic societies were made by the French theologian John Calvin and the English soldier-statesman Oliver Cromwell. The caliphate, in Muslim communities, was a theocracy. The rule of the ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran is an example of a theocratic government in modern times.