Iran: why theocracies survive – with Peter Frankopan

In the 21st century, the theocratic nature of the Iranian regime – ruled by senior Shia clerics – appears to be a rarity. The constitutional role of religion is perhaps matched only by the Vatican City and Afghanistan, though these vary in terms of autocracy – as evidenced by the brutal suppression of protests across Iran in the past few weeks. The regime, installed following the 1979 revolution and led first by Ayatollah Khomeini and now Ayatollah Khameini, has proven remarkably resilient; how has it survived so long? Peter Frankopan – professor of global history at Oxford University – joins Damian Thompson to discuss the tensions associated with state control of public life, how to define theocracies and how those of us in the global west might not be as immune to their features as we would like to think. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts . Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Iran: why theocracies survive – with Peter Frankopan is an episode from Holy Smoke by The Spectator.

This episode is 24:20 long.

This episode was published on Jan 16, 2026.

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