Quote Originally Posted by George L. Singleton View Post
Interested in other's takes on this theme...my personal agenda is to look for a disruption between Shias and Sunnis...recognizing that we now have two "theocratic" models, Iran, a Shi'a model, and of course Syria and Saudi Arabia, both Sunni models.
Syria is very far from a Sunni theocracy, given that it is ruled by the (semi-secular, supposedly non-confessional) Ba'th Party, with the (non-Sunni, heterodox Shiite-offshot) Alawi minority exercising disproportionate influence in the Party and Army.

If "theocracy" is understood to be a system where men of religion rule directly, then Saudi Arabia isn't quite one—for all its Wahhabi piety, it is the royal family and not the ulama who rule.

Iran is one, albeit limited by both a written constitution and quasi-elective components (the majlis and the presidency).