Theocracy
For the computer strategy game, refer to Theocracy (computer game).The term
theocracy is commonly used to describe a
form of government in which a
religion or metaphysical
faith plays the dominant role. It refers to a form of government in which the organs of the religious sphere replace or dominate the organs of the political sphere as clerical or spiritual representative(s) of god(s).
The word theocracy originates from the Greek
theokratia "the rule of God" (Josephus), itself form Greek words θεος (
theos, of unknown origin, perhaps not Indo-European), "god" and κρατειν (
kratein), "to rule", thus "rule by
god(s)" or human incarnation(s) of god(s). Theocracy never had that literal meaning in English, as it entered the language in 1622, used for "sacerdotal government under divine inspiration" (as in Biblical Israel before the rise of kings); the meaning "priestly or religious body wielding political and civil power" is recorded from 1825.
In the most common usage of the term theocracy, some civil rulers are leaders of the dominant
religion (e.g., the
Byzantine Emperor as patron of the head of the official Church); governmental policies are either identical with, or strongly influenced by, the principles of a religion, and typically, the government claims to rule on behalf of
God or a higher power, as specified by the local religion. These characteristics apply also to a
caesaropapist regime. The Byzantine empire however was not theocratic as the Patriarch answered to the Emperor, not vice versa. A theocracy may be
monist in form, where the administrative
hierarchy of the government is identical with the administrative hierarchy of the religion, or it may have two 'arms', but with the religious hierarchy dominating the state administrative hierarchy.
Theocracy should be distinguished from other, secular forms of government which also have a
state religion, and from some
monarchies, in which the head of state legitimates the authority of the crown as being held
By the Grace of God and tends to assume a sacral aura. Where there is a state or established religion, there is a long-term contract between the religious and political hierarchies. A
monarchy which claims religious legitimation may also dominate the religious sphere (Caesaropapism), or it may be so dependent on the religious hierarchy for legitimation that the state has no autonomy from religion (theocracy). Typically, religiously endorsed monarchies fall between these two poles, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs.
A more literal term for the exact meaning of "theocracy" is "
ecclesiocracy," which denotes rule by a religious leader or body, whereas theocracy would literally mean rule by God.
Theocracy and ecclesiocracy should be distinguished from governments that are influenced by religious concepts, or in which religious believers have positions of power gained by political means. An ecclesiocracy or theocracy is rule by the hierarchy of a specific church or sect, not simply a government influenced by religious concepts.
Hierocracy is a term coined by Max Weber for the institutional forms of authority within a religious community. Despite its appearance it does not in fact refer to a form of government.
Perhaps a clearer way to distinguish between a theocracy and an ecclesiocracy is this: A pure theocracy would be a situation where the civil leader is believed to have a direct personal connection with God, like the Israelites when they were ruled by Moses or the early Muslims who were ruled by Mohammed - and therefore a situation where the law proclaimed by the ruler is also considered a divine revelation, and hence the law of God. An ecclesiocracy, on the other hand, is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. A good example would be the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler. The papacy in the Papal States, occupy a middle ground between theocracy and ecclesiocrasy, since the pope does not claim he is a prophet who receives revelation from God, but merely the infallible interpreter of already-received revelation.
The concept of theocracy was first coined by
Josephus Flavius in the
1st century. He defined theocracy as the characteristic government for
Jews. Josephus' definition was widely accepted until the
enlightenment era, when the term started to collect more universalistic and undeniably negative
connotations, especially in
Hegel's hands. After that, the word "theocracy" has been mostly used to label certain politically unpopular
societies as somehow less rational or developed. The concept is used in
sociology and other social sciences, but the term is often used in an overly broad manner, especially in popular rhetoric.
Iran
Most observers would consider
Iran a theocracy, since the elected president and legislature are constitutionally subject to the supervision of two offices reserved for Shiah clerics: the Supreme Leader of Iran (Rahbar) and the
Guardian Council, which even decide who may run for office.
Not every "
Islamic Republic" is necessarily a theocracy, since in some the effective power is in the hands of a military-backed regime, functioning under an Islamic cloak.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is run according to a version of
shari'a (traditional Islamic legislation) with the
Koran declared to be the constitution and is sometimes incorrectly classified as theocratic, but it is officially and in fact a monarchy, with the monarch wielding near-absolute power and the organs of official religion subservient to them. This is known as caesaropapism: a state structure in which the government (Caesar) is also in control of the main organs of religion.
Israel
Many people see the justification of a Jewish state as theocratic, calling on Biblical references of "the children of Israel". However, some conservative Jews see
Zionism as a violation of
biblical prophecies.
[ Three Strong Oaths ][ Neturei Karta ] Zionism was mostly a secular nationalist movement rather than a religious movement. The State of
Israel is formally
parliamentary democracy. One theocratic aspects are the marital courts, where each faith has its own marriage law: Muslim marriage and divorce is handled by
Sharia courts, Jewish marriage and divorce is handled by
Torah courts, and so on; however for Jews, rabbinical recognition as a Jew also suffices to be entitled to Israeli citizenship, regardless of the birth place and legal ancestry nationality.
Norway
While
Norway's population is relatively non-religious in their day-to-day lives, the Norwegian state retains a few vestigial religious overtones. As in many
constitutional monarchies, the Head of State is also the leader of the
state church. The 12th article of the
Constitution of Norway requires more than half of the members of the
Norwegian Council of State to be a member of the state church. The second article guarantees freedom of religion, while also stating that
Evangelical Lutheranism is the official state religion.
[ The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway ]On
July 9,
2006 a prominent member of
HEF, Jens Brun-Pedersen, called for the
Prime Minister to advocate the
separation of church and state. He argues that the 12th article of the constitution is
discriminatory, and that Norway can't criticise countries advocating
sharia law when the constitution favours
Lutheran members of society.
[ Visionary or missionary? - Jens Brun-Pedersen, Dagbladet July 9, 2006 ]During the periods of 1997-2000 and 2001-2005 the centre-right coalition government's Prime Minister was a
priest,
Kjell Magne Bondevik. In these periods, the biotechnology laws in Norway were reformed into some of the strictest in the world.
The United States of America
Though the United States is officially a
federal republic, some see it heading down the slippery slope to a theocracy. With an evangelical Christian,
George W. Bush as the current president along with a large collection of other fundamentalists in office, it seems as if the United States government is run by the
Evangelical Christian church. Starting with the campaign for the would-be 40th president,
Ronald Reagan, Evangelical Christians have had a large impact in the politics of America. In this campaign, the
Moral Majority, a religious, faith based organization aimed at putting evangelical rightists into public offices was an extremely influential force. According to the Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States, 76.7% of American adults identified themselves as Christians. Right-wing evangelicals such as
Jerry Falwell and
Pat Robertson have made great efforts to convert our country to a theocracy. Public school boards, have pushed for and achieved the teaching of
intelligent design (a religious theology) in Kansas and many are following suit in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, Illinois, Montana and Indiana. The president, speaking on ...behalf commented "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." The most striking of all, references to the
Judeo-Christian God are seen on coins and
Federal Reserve Notes (the official motto of the United States "
In God We Trust") and are also uttered by school children every morning in the
pledge of allegiance.
The Vatican
The
Vatican City State is theocratic in a very limited sense, since it has temporal rule over a small territory, but that is not its primary function.
Religious communities
Theocracy, as a form of ruling the state, should be distinguished from the internal order of a religious community. The
monastery at
Mount Athos is a non-
sovereign entity that governs its members under
Canon Law (traditional Christian legislation) according to the
Greek constitution, but it would not normally be called a theocracy since no state is governed. The
Knights Hospitaller is another religious order with an internal rule, but this does not make it a theocracy. Many states incorporate elements of religious law in their civil laws, but if these laws are administered by civil courts according to the logic of the state, this does not constitute a theocratic element in their constitutions.
The largest and best known theocracies in history were the Umayyad and early Abassid
Caliphate, and the
Papal States. And as with any other state or empire,
pragmatism was part of the politics of these
de jure theocracies.
In the past, several nations of varying faiths have been deemed theocracies. Although this appraisal was occasionally inaccurate or simplistic it does work in least in some cases.
An example often given from Antiquity is
Pharaohnic
Egypt when the king was a divine or semi-divine figure who ruled largely through priests. Properly speaking this was originally a caesaropapist order, rather than a theocratic one, since the worldly rulers took charge of religion, rather than vice versa, but once the Pharaoh (since
Ramses the Great) was recognized as a living (incarnated) god both definitions concurred.
In
Christianity,
Geneva during the period of
John Calvin's greatest influence is often classed as a protestant theocracy. The same can be said of some sovereign
prince of the church (mostly
prince-bishop) regimes in Catholicism or
Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but this classification is debatable as they simply unite in one office a clerical role and that of head of state and government of a feudal state (often with one or more such title(s), merged into the prelature, e.g. the bishops who who ducal or comital pairs de France) which functions in temporal matters almost identical to its hereditary counterparts.
Montenegro offers a singular example of monarchs willingly turning their power to ecclesiastic authority, as the last of the
House of Crnojevic (styled
Grand Voivode, not sovereign princes) did, in order to preserve national unity before the
Ottoman onslaught as a separate
millet under an autochthonous
Ethnarch. When Montenegro re-established secular dynastic succession by the proclamation of princedom in 1851, it did so in favor of the last Prince-bishop, who changed his style from
Vladika i upravitelj Crne Gore i Brde "Vladika [bishop] and Ruler of Montenegro and Brda" to Po
Bozjoj milosti knjaz i gospodar Crne Gore i Brde "By the grace of God Prince and Sovereign of Montenegro and Brda", thus rendering his de facto dynasty (the Petrovic-Njegos family since 1696) a hereditary one.
The
Papal States in Italy (and its
Avignon version) were also a theocracy and ancestor of the current Vatican City State.
Florence under the rule of
Girolamo Savonarola is also at times considered a theocracy.
In Islam, the period when
Medina was ruled by the Prophet
Muhammad is, occasionally, classed as a theocracy. By 630, Muhammad established a theocracy in
Mecca. Other plausible examples of Islamic theocracy might be
Mahdist Sudan and the
Taliban state in
Afghanistan (1996-2001).
The period when
Dalai Lamas ruled
Tibet, especially before certain
twentieth century reforms, has also been deemed a Lamaist (Budhist) theocracy till his government was forced into exile by the People's Republic of China which annexed the country. However the nature of
Tibetan Buddhism makes the use of the term technically incorrect, since in Buddhism not divinities but 'saints' are reincarnated as
bodhisattvas, rendered as 'living Buddhas', and often assume clerical, occasionally even political offices.
Outer Mongolia also had a theocratic Lama (before the Soviets installed a satellite communist state), but there since the start in 1639, when the son of the Mongol
Khan of Urga was named a Living Buddha (
Bogdo gegeen), the dynasty espoused theocracy and secular aristocracy.
At other times in history a theocratic or semi-theocratic state is set up as a form of social protest or because of utopian idealism. The largest effort toward that end might be the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of nineteenth century
China.
Tenskwatawa's "Prophets Town" was also a religious city state of a kind, although was possibly more of an
intentional community rather than a theocracy.
Critics of the
Christian right in the United States frequently charge that movement with being "theocratic." The accuracy of this description is hotly debated. See (Christian right and
Dominionism).
A number of parties and movements have been accused of having theocratic aspects. See the article on the
Islamic party. In many countries accusations of theocracy are considered slurs or political attacks.
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Authoritarianism*
Establishment of religion*
Hierocracy*
Islamic republic*
Khalistan*
Joseph Kony*
List of forms of government*
Separation of church and state*
State religion*
Statolatry*
Theonomy*
Dominionism*
Secularism*
EtymologyOnLine*
Is Judaism a Theocracy? chabad.org
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Theocracy Watch - Details the rise of the religious right and dominionism within the Republican Party
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Caliphate: The Future of Islamic Theocracy*
WorldStatesmen- see ach nation; here Mongolia
