[[ This is my first time on wikipedia and I have not found how to make my own comments page, so I am putting the comment here. I just changed the piece on hierocracy, because I've never heard it used as a synonym for theocracy, and it has its own perfectly clear meaning in the work of Weber which has been widely adopted. I suspect that whoever wrote that bit had no idea what he was talking about.  

 I find the whole entry for theocracy completely unsatisfactory, starting with the definition. Again, it reads as if the writers had no idea about the subject and have it confused with several other topics. I think it would be hopeless to try to repair the page by successive edits. It needs to start with a proper definition of theocracy that distinguishes theocracy from caesaropapism and clearly says that a pious society is NOT by definition a theocracy, and also that church establishment is not compatible with theocracy, but is compatible with caesaropapism. Theocracy is a form of government, not a social quality, it can be defined as " "a government in which the persons and institutions of the religious order either control or replace the organs of the civil government." (Sen McGlinn, Church and State, page 243).  

 Then it is clear that Iran is a theocracy, Saudi Arabia is not, and so on through all the other questions discussed here. The problem is a vague and too broad definition at the outset. One should rather start with a clear and hard definition, and later note that in popular usage the term has become an almost meaningless pejoritive applied to religion in public places.  

 Can somebody enlighten me about how one goes about fixing the page? One obvious step would be to ask for input via the editors of the Journal of Church and State (Baylor University, they have a research school on this topic). Email me at Sen.sonja [at] Casema.NL - Sen McGlinn ]]