In the Islamic Republic of Iran, both politics and religion have been intertwined for a long time. After the undoing of the Taliban in Afghanistan they are the last theocracy left in the world. The leader of the country is also the leader of the Islamic religion in this country. Many of the new generation coming up into politics want this to change. People no longer feel that the government should have control over the religion of the country and the government. For the time being the government in Iran have control over the religious and government policies in this region of the world. Due to this, the people going to the mosque have been higher in a secular Turkey than in the theocracy that is Iran. .
Right now Iran is a mixture of theocracy and a democracy; it is a political system based on clerical authority as well as a public vote. Their laws and customs are based on both on the divine right of the clergy as well as the rights of people, these concepts are derived both from the early days of Islam and modern democratic principles. For instance the people hold regular elections, but the Guardian Council, which is a group that is formed by people who run the church, decides who can or cannot run in these elections. The president is the head of the executive branch of the government, but he can be dismissed by the Supreme Leader who has control of the Guardian Council if he see fit. So technically, in this day of Iran, both the "voice of God" and the voice of the people are heard, although the "voice of God" has the right to overrule the voice of the people if it sees fit. .
There have been four major political systems. They are the Safavids, the Qajar, the Pahlavi, and the Islamic Revolution that led to the Islamic Republic which is the form of governmental system that is in effect in Iran now. The Safavids, were in power from 1501 until 1722, and was a reign that was different from medieval kings in Europe because the were tolerant of other religions such as the small sects of Jewish and Christian people living in their country.
