The Theocracy

Simply put, a Theocracy is any society in which the The Church is the government. Often the laws of a theocracy are based off religious law, or claims that God (or Gods) is the supreme ruler of their state. This is especially prevalent in pre-modern settings.

It's common to have an official state religion, but this doesn't necessarily equate to a theocracy or even an especially religious country. For example, in England the head of state (the monarch) is also the head of the Church, bringing an overtly religious aspect into the governmental system, but England and the UK in terms of population are much less religious than nearby, officially secular Ireland and France.

Note that true theocracies, where secular government is virtually non-existent, are fairly rare. Most often the Church will simply have a lot of secular power and sometimes a parallel government: authority over religious/moral laws, it's own bureaucracy, it's own army, etc.

Compare Church Militant, where the clergy is Badass, but not necessarily the rulers of a country. A Corrupt Church is often the head of a Theocracy, but not always.

Examples of this trope in media:

Anime and Manga

• Prussia from Axis Powers Hetalia was once the child embodiment of The Teutonic Knights, who were in real life a militant Catholic monastic order who happened to run their own realm...which would serve as the basis of their Prussian descendants. Although it's subverted in that the Nation seems to shed at least most of his piety once he drops the knight act.
• Overlord has the Slane Theocracy and the Roble Holy Kingdom, both nations run by priesthoods, though the latter also appoints a monarch.

Comic Books

• In the DC Comics miniseries World of Krypton it's shown how the government of Krypton came to be science based. There were three competing factions: one for science, one for democracy, and one for a Theocracy. They decided to let the Kryptonian gods decide. One representative from each faction went out into a thunderstorm with a rod; whichever one didn't get hit by a bolt would be the chosen. Science won after theocracy and democracy's reps each got hit. In The Stinger of the story the scientist admitted to a time-travelling Kal-El that he had used a non-ferrous metal in making his rod. He didn't consider it cheating since the gods told him to do so — or so he claimed.
• Batman: Holy Terror takes place in an alternate timeline where Oliver Cromwell survived a decade past his death to establish an theocratic empire over Britain and the United States called the Commonwealth. Puritanism is the state religion and other forms of Christianity like Catholicism are considered heretical.

Literature

• The Lands of Holy Order the Arkanar Kingdom in the ending in Hard to Be A God.
• In Donald Kingsbury's Courtship Rite, the overclans are all priest clans, ruling by religious right. Basically, the whole world is a theocracy, although given the harsh conditions of survival on Geta, a fairly pragmatic and not-very-hierarchical one.
• David Eddings has two examples in The Elenium. The first is the city of Chyrellos which is more or less an expy of the real life Vatican example below, an independent city state ruled by the head of the church and run by church officials of a much larger religion. And despite not having a distinct homeland and only a single city to call their own, the Styrics probably also count since their highest body, capable of making decisions for all Styrics regardless of where they reside, is composed of the High Priests and Priestesses of the Younger Gods of Styricum.
• The Temple Lands in David Weber's Safehold series is one disguised by a very flimsy legal fiction. Technically they are ruled by the Knights of the Temple Lands but every single member of that groups happens to be a member of the church hierarchy and church groups are used to enforce their rule, so it is a de facto if not de jure Theocracy.
• The Republic of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale.
• Arden in Dragon Queen apparently is one of these, as the priesthood had the legal authority to execute Sajag.
• Brandon Sanderson likes these:
  • In Elantris, the Fjordell Empire is a theocracy controlled by Shu-Dereth and its leader Wyrn Wulfden IV is both High Priest and Emperor, considered the only living human who has a direct connection to Jaddeth.
  • Mistborn: The Original Trilogy brings the Final Empire, a post-apocalyptic dystopia ruled by the Lord Ruler, an immortal who presents himself as a living god. His priests, the Obligators, actually handle the administration side of things.
  • Warbreaker has a less antagonist version. Hallandren is ruled by the Court of Gods and their priests; though there's certainly corruption to go around and the gods themselves can be rather out of touch with the world, they're not really any better or worse than most governments. The God King himself is actually quite a decent guy, if a powerless figurehead, and his High Priest, though he initially appears to be the Big Bad is actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist opposed to the real villains.
  • Inverted in The Stormlight Archive. Vorinism is the dominant religion of the nations the protagonists come from, but its priests (called ardents) have next to no political power and are kept staunchly under the thumb of the aristocracy and are even denied personal property to make sure they don't try to extend their influence beyond spiritual matters. This is because the Vorin nations were a theocracy (called the Hierocracy) centuries ago, and it was supposedly extremely corrupt- when the nobles seized power back, they wanted to make sure the Hierocracy would never return.
• In Parable of the Talents, the U.S. is on its way to becoming a theocracy. The Glorious Leader, Jarrett, is a member of the Christian America sect which blames all non-Christian "heathens" (and sometimes Christians of other denominations) for America's problems. They have significant power over the country, with their own army and POW camps.
• The Yuuzhan Vong from the New Jedi Order are essentially this, with religion being the driving force of their society and their leader revered as something between Priest King and God Emperor. Though the priests are only one of the four higher castes, Nom Anor (who knows a thing or two about how governments work, since his job is to subvert them) explicitly notes that their influence is the only thing keeping the other three (warriors, shapers, and intendents) from turning on each other.
  • Before the Yuuzhan Vong (and after, in the case of Star Wars: Legacy), the various incarnations of the Sith Empire were also arguably so. Everyone and everything in The Empire is under the complete domination of the Sith who can do anything they please to non-Sith (rape, kill, enslave, torture), with the military backing up their power. On paper, they are the absolute authority. In practice, the Sith don't care about much outside their own power plays against each other, the military and government officials are too busy kissing up to the Sith or trying to backstab each other to climb the heirarchy in line with Sith ideals of "strength" and "power," and the Intelligence Services are left to be glorified janitors. It's no wonder that the Sith Empires tend to implode as soon as they gain any power in the wider galaxy.
• Masada in the Honor Harrington novels.
  • Played with on Grayson. Religion infuses Grayson society and law, but Grayson's church no longer holds official power, and the right of the individual to follow their own path is actually a core element of modern Grayson theology.
• The Millennial Kingdom government in the Left Behind books, which consists of God as ultimate ruler, Jesus as the ruler of the world, King David as the ruler of Israel, and the apostles as the rulers of the twelve tribes of Israel. It's portrayed as the most benevolent theocracy that ever existed, with God and Jesus Christ permitting freedom of speech and freedom of religion, allowing those who would not become believers in Christ to live either as unbelievers or as members of the Other Light for only 100 years before they die and are sent to Hell.
• The premise of Christian Nation is that President Sarah Palin and her successor Steve Jordan imposes a dystopian theocracy on the United States.
• According to The Bible, the country of Israel was originally a nation ruled solely by God, with judges as His representatives. It was only when the nation of Israel wanted an actual king that Saul was crowned one.
• In the Archangel Protocol, access to the LINK (the virtual reality implanted internet) is reserved for members of a religion. And since the LINK is required for operating in society... Every government in the world (except for Russia) has a state religion, and citizenship is conditional on being religious. Essentially, the atheists got the blame for World War III, and this is the result.
• In the aftermath of World War Z, Russia has become an expansionist [[[Orthodox Christianity|Eastern Orthodox]]] theocracy called the Holy Russian Empire, with the Russian Orthodox Church reigning supreme and a Tsar implied to be Vladimir Putin as head of state. As of the time of writing, it has reconquered most of the former Soviet Republics and is pushing its way into Ukraine.
• During in Stephen King's The Stand that first city state/first nation create in Post-Bioweapon outbreak world named "Captians trips", the "Republic" of Boulder City is mostly become this very quickly and good example in literture, They treated their Founder "Mother" Abagail as Grand Holy leader that even herself desendence on spritial quest to heaven due of begin signs dying, Act so far as semi-utopic society without modern technology, Crime rate was extremely low before climax were one of survivor are actually unwanted moe that try kill leader and council members of newly created city-state to Antangonist and leader of now short-lived city state of Las Vegas to declared of War of who winning this world, Some people are begin using pronouns in name of Abagail as seen End of story.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer 40000: The ginormous Imperium of Man is very much a theocracy, given that they have a Physical God as its former leader. However, ever since a prominent Ecclesiarchy member went mad and tried to form his own Imperium within the Imperium, the Ecclesiarchy is no longer allowed to keep "men under arms". Hence the Sisters of Battle. Also, their priests accompany the Imperial Guard into battle wielding inspiring speeches and eight-foot-long chainswords.
  • Similarly, on the Chaos side the leaders tend to be those who the gods most favor. However, they aren't really priests, as the Chaos gods would much rather their followers kill loyalists and aliens instead of holding masses.
• The Lizardmen of Warhammer are led by their Skink priests, who interpret the wills of their gods.
• The Theocracy of the Pale in the Greyhawk setting for Dungeons and Dragons. In the Living Greyhawk campaign, the real-world region assigned to it was Utah.
• Jarzon in Blue Rose.

Video Games

• Morrowind in The Elder Scrolls was once ruled directly by its three Physical Gods, and even though the games are set in a time after The Empire forced a secular government on them, they still maintain a lot of power. By the end of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, a minimum of two of the Tribunal are dead—Sotha Sil by Almalexia's hand, and Almalexia and potentially Vivec by the player's—and regardless of whether you killed him, Vivec disappears from his city in the interim between Morrowind and Oblivion.
• The Covenant in the Haloverse worship the Forerunners and want to activate the Halos because they think it will allow them to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
• The Paranid Empire in the X-Universe are ruled by one Priest-Emperor Xaar, and each Paranid settlement or station by a priest-duke. Their (rather bizarre) religion permeates every aspect of Paranid life, making Holier Than Thou the species' hat.
• For most of the humans in Spira, the world of Final Fantasy X, the only government is also the only (apparent) religious institution, the Church of Yevon.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Fire Emblem Awakening features the Halidom ("Holy Kingdom" in the Japanese version) of Ylisse, devoted to the worship of the Divine Dragon Naga, as well as a more sinister version in its neighbor Plegia, whose citizens worship the Fell Dragon Grima.
  • And earlier, the Theocracy of Rausten from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.
• In Guild Wars: Prophecies the Charr invasion of Kryta led to the complete collapse and disappearance of the previous monarchy. The White Mantle took their place in stopping the invasion and then ruling Kryta once peace was restored. They were eventually deposed when a legitimate heir was found to challenge the increasingly corrupt and exploitative actions of the Mantle.
• By Tears To Tiara 2, The Empire is de facto Theocracy. What the Corrupt Church says counts.
  • Also discussed. Monomachus suggests drumming up religious fervor to turn the entire thing into a war of religion to solve their manpower shortage, with the people of Hispania warshipping Asharte and the Ba'al gods fighting against The Empire who worship Watos. Despite frequently voicing her desire for followers, Tart says she will not go along with the plan, as people so forced and/or brainwashed are not true believers. Hamil agrees, and decides to form The Alliance to solve their manpower shortage.
• In BioShock Infinite, Columbia is run by a single party theocracy-like dictatiorship with its state religion's prophet Zachary Comstock as the head of state. In an alternate timeline that Booker DeWitt travels through, Elizabeth takes over as the head of state, tortured into playing the role of the prophesied "Lamb" and eventually leading Columbia into an aerial assault of New York City circa 1984.
• In the backstory of Kult: Heretic Kingdoms, Taryn Arkor, despite being a descendant of the hero who killed God, established himself as the head of a theocracy before being rebelled against (and then backstabbed by his Chancellor). This made religion more enemies than ever, and the Inquisition, a militantly atheist faction which bans religion (and which the protagonist belongs to), has its origins in the resistance to the Theocrat.

Web Comics

• In The Order of the Stick Azure City is technically this. It's ruled by Lord Shojo, who is also the leader of the Sapphire Guard, an order of Paladins; he argues that this means his secular jurisdiction isn't limited because nor is their gods'.

Western Animation

• Air Nomads from both Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are this of was know be extreme pacific nation that refused to with world's politics and completely lack of military was result of their doom when thier neighboring nation "Imperial Fire Kingdom" or commonly named Fire Nation, Put 170 years later of its Sequel spinoff that Air Nomads evolve overtime along with its politics with Tenzin as their first official de jure later of 'Air Nation'. Book 3 and Book 4 have massive revolution of new Airbenders (who all used be Non-benders from all their Neighboring nations due after events of Book 2 with major effects from Harmonic convergence) along their actions for world are now useful unlike their predecessors.

Real Life

• The closest thing we have to a true theocracy in real life is Vatican City, which is ruled by The Roman Catholic Pope and has a government staffed by clerics.
  • Until the total unification of Italy in the 1870s, its predecessor the Papal States (at least in theory) served this role. How this exactly played out as well as its reputation depended on the time period, given how it's fostered both saintly figures and the likes of the Borgias.
• The Islamic Republic of Iran is nominally a Muslim theocracy under the guidance of the Ayatollahs. In reality, it's a subject that's tad more complex. And very delicate.
• Saudi Arabia double subverts this. The kingdom's laws are based on the Sunni Wahhabi Sharia law, but the kingdom is ruled by a king. In simple terms, it's a theocratic absolute monarchy.
• A better example might be Afghanistan when it was under the control of the Taliban. They're such an infamous example that the word "Taliban" has entered the English lexicon as a negatively connotated term for anyone who seems to be in favor of a theocracy, especially an extremist one.
• Christian Reconstructionism is a movement within some strains of Fundamentalism that believes in Theonomy, the doctrine that civil law should be derived from biblical law. Its critics say there is no real distinction between this belief and Theocracy. This is another touchy one, of course.
• The Eastern Roman Empire is an odd example of sorts, in that the line between Church and State was very thin, with the Emperor having religious authority and influence rivaling the Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Israel in both its modern and classical incarnations has always had Judaism as a central aspect, both in the country's identity and its international policies. Having the idea of theocracy kicking around is inevitable when you bill yourself as "the Kingdom of God", but while classical Israel (and Judah) played this trope dead straight the modern one subverts, double subverts, or plays with it. It's always claimed to be the Jewish State or "Hebrew State", Judaism defines itself as both a nation and a religion, and during the classical period it was ruled as a monarchical theocracy based on an alliance between religious judges and the royal family. Today there are several religious political parties and various other snippets, like personal law (marriage, inheritance, divorce) is handled by religious courts relating to a person's background (Jewish, Muslim or Christian). However, most modern Zionists were nationalists and emphasized the ethnic aspect, the government is run as a democratic republic that has supremacy over religious law and can freely elect non-Jewish members. Including those from Muslim, Arab, and Christian parties, as well as normal parties whose platforms are decidedly not Old Testament.
• The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded on Puritan ideals, allowing no other denomination and permitting "visible saints" (righteous Puritans with sufficient property) only to vote or hold office.
  • Speaking of the Puritans, the Commonwealth of England that existed from 1649-1660^note  is also considered to be a Theocracy by some Historians.
• When the Mormons first settled in the Salt Lake area, they established the short-lived State of Deseret, a "demo"theocratic state headed by Brigham Young. Following the Mexican-American War, the area became part of the United States and the Utah Territory was founded in the region. The Utah Territory then spent some time being a de facto Mormon theocracy, with Young being the governor of the territory and the president of the LDS Church. In 1857, the U.S. government decided this wouldn't do and sent in federal troops to force the establishment of a secular, or at least non-Mormon, government. The last traces of official theocracy were eliminated when Utah became a state is 1896.
  • Modern Mormons and modern Utah are pretty secular, besides the compulsory missionary work, but there are isolated towns scattered around the southwestern US where the vast majority of the population, civic authorites and police are members of the FLDS Church (which is schismatic sect that was have direct connections to first Fundamentalist church from LDS church in way), and are essentially mini-theocracies ruled by fundamentalist Mormon law and where polygamy, child marriage and other practices which the mainstream LDS discarded long ago are still practiced.
• It's been argued that North Korea is basically a theocracy at this point, with the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family having mutated into a state religion. If you think this is an exaggeration, consider that people are encouraged to, and do, pray to Kim il-Sung, Kim Jong-il and currently Kim Jong-un. Also, North Korean children are taught that Kim il-Sung and Kim Jong-un performed miracles, such as turning sand into rice, turning fruits into bombs, and, yes, walking on water. He's also still the "Eternal President" despite being dead since 1994. It can almost be likened to a divine dynasty, down to Kim Jong-Nam, or a crude caricature of the Trinity.
• This was the default state in monarchies for quite a while, even and perhaps especially in Europe (with a dubious long-running alternative being in the Germanies, due to the complicated political organization of the Holy Roman Empire). Of course, in practice it was more "the Church is subordinate to the government", making it a sort of practical inversion (the Church became less of a parallel power structure that could work against the secular government) while formally playing it straighter.
• The nation of Tibet was this from its de facto independence in 1912 to the Chinese invasion in the '50s. The country was ruled by the Dalai Lama, and Buddhist clerics held the role of beingfeudal overlords over the peasantry. After the exile the current Dalai Lama stayed on in charge ofthe Central Tibetian Administration but then relinquished political power to the democratically elected leaders of the CTA in 2011.
• The self-styled "Islamic State" (aka ISIS, aka ISIL aka Daesh) is a Sunni extremist group attempting to impose a theocracy in the Middle East, beginning with Syria and Iraq. Their human rights abuses are so extreme that even Al-Qaeda, of all groups, criticizes them.
• The city of Zion, Illinois in the early 20th century. It was founded by an evangelical Protestant group that enforced the belief, among many others, that the Earth is flat.
• Until VJ-Day the Emperor of Japan was believed to be the offspring of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, but after Japan's defeat in World War 2 the Emperor renounced his claim of divinity.

• Subverted with OSHO international or infamously as Rajneesh movement (An Hindu new religious movement) attempt doing this in 1980s with firstly Family Ranch (successfully with little battle a environmentalists group), next was seemly Christian-influence secular town who later renamed after their founder (attempted successful but clearly built resistance by its real residents) and later an county in Far-north of Oregon state's border (backfired and failed within couple years) complete with their religious police as means of political power not by its founder but it’s leader of his religious council just to show her might.
• The Caucasian Imamate (located in modern-day Chechenya and Dagestan, Russia) was a state run and organized by imans (as the name indicates) during the 19th-Century, established to resist Tsarist Russia's expansion into the region.
• During the prelude of Three Kingdoms and before his surrender to Cao Cao, Zhang Lu's territory Hanning was based around his Taoist movement, Way of the Five Pecks of Rice/The Celestial Masters.
• Islamic Caliphates operated under the belief that its leader, the caliph, was the successor of the Prophet Muhammad and is expected to serves as an spiritual, political, social and military leader of not just their empires, but also for Muslims worldwide. Now who should be the caliph is a matter of debate between Shias and Sunnis. There have been four major caliphates in history (in order: the Rashidun, the Umayyads, the Abbasids and the Ottomans) with a some minor parallel ones such as the Fatimids and Almohads. In theory, the caliph has absolute power but in practice, they were highly regulated and could be fairly powerless at times; for example, the Abbasids were limited to a purely religious role while under the protection of the Mamluk Sultanate that held all political power. Today, the position was abolished after Turkey became an secular republic, and several radical Islamist groups like the aforementioned ISIS have called for its restoration.
• The Republic of Florence under Girolamo Savonarola after he had driven out the Medici rulers out. Christian practices became formal law and books, statues and works of art he deemed "un-Christian" were burned.
• In one time in Münster history that Anabaptists tired control their city under their religion during Münster rebellion and overall right after German Peasants' War ended, their attempted control of city was short time before surrendering and moved out area which later eventually they become Mennonites and rest was history.