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It's definitely a theocracy, but the president does have some measure of real power (e.g. for better or worse, the nuclear deal almost certainly wouldn't have h

by wheels 6y ago

It's definitely a theocracy, but the president does have some measure of real power (e.g. for better or worse, the nuclear deal almost certainly wouldn't have happened had Rouhani not been elected). I'm not saying that the government isn't problematic, just that every problematic government isn't a dictatorship.

LegitShady 6y ago
All presidential candidates must be approved by a religious council. It's democracy pastiche at best
- wheels 6y ago
  That was where the "semi-" in "semi-democratic" came from in my original comment. It's in ways similar to Hong Kong's council elections.
  - philistine 6y ago
    I would be careful of using semi-democracy as a word. Democracy is power by the people, and the Iranian theocracy is ultimately not a democracy. There are too many caveats, too many powers under the authority of religious unelected people to call it a democracy. It’s a theocracy through and through.
    - Hamcrest 6y ago
      What country doesn't have caveats to its democracy tho? I live in the UK and there are far too many caveats to call it a democracy IMO. At the end of the day it is subjective.
      - tgv 6y ago
        This is getting absurd: a representative democracy as many European countries have is not a close relation to the GP's "semi democratic" Iran. It's as "subjective" as being hit with a brick.
        sudosysgen 6y ago
        The UK is more complicated than that. In the end, democracy refers to who hold power. In the UK, it's very possible for a minority to have the majority of the power or even worse due to various details, and a lot of power is just not accountable to the people. So depending on where you draw the line it makes sense.
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    It’s not semi because there is a completely parallel government and an executive branch that holds supreme power over everything even if they don’t administer the day to day dealings of the “normies”. The IRGC could arrest the entire parliament and execute them at the public square and no one can officially stop them, not judges, not ministers no one.

by wheels 6y ago

LegitShady 6y ago

All presidential candidates must be approved by a religious council. It's democracy pastiche at best

wheels 6y ago
That was where the "semi-" in "semi-democratic" came from in my original comment. It's in ways similar to Hong Kong's council elections.
- philistine 6y ago
  I would be careful of using semi-democracy as a word. Democracy is power by the people, and the Iranian theocracy is ultimately not a democracy. There are too many caveats, too many powers under the authority of religious unelected people to call it a democracy. It’s a theocracy through and through.
  - Hamcrest 6y ago
    What country doesn't have caveats to its democracy tho? I live in the UK and there are far too many caveats to call it a democracy IMO. At the end of the day it is subjective.
    - tgv 6y ago
      This is getting absurd: a representative democracy as many European countries have is not a close relation to the GP's "semi democratic" Iran. It's as "subjective" as being hit with a brick.
      - sudosysgen 6y ago
        The UK is more complicated than that. In the end, democracy refers to who hold power. In the UK, it's very possible for a minority to have the majority of the power or even worse due to various details, and a lot of power is just not accountable to the people. So depending on where you draw the line it makes sense.
- dogma1138 6y ago
  It’s not semi because there is a completely parallel government and an executive branch that holds supreme power over everything even if they don’t administer the day to day dealings of the “normies”. The IRGC could arrest the entire parliament and execute them at the public square and no one can officially stop them, not judges, not ministers no one.