Supreme Leader
Highest government position
Supreme Leader is the official title of the highest authority in certain authoritarian states, most notably Iran and North Korea.
Iran's Supreme Leader holds ultimate political and religious power above the elected president.
North Korea's Supreme Leader exercises total control over state and military.
The title signals power beyond constitutional limits: The Supreme Leader issued a new decree. (Lowercase supreme leader is the generic term.)
- AyatollahSenior Shia clerical title
- Kim Jong-unNorth Korean dictator
- North KoreaIsolated East Asian state
- cult of personalityExcessive veneration of leader
- totalitarianismState controls everything absolutely
Kim Il-sung · Kim Jong-il · Iran · hereditary succession · political purges · nuclear · nuclear program · propaganda · dictatorship · despotism · autocracy · iron fist · portrait · mass rallies · one-party state · rubber stamp parliament · worship · reverence
- IranIran, Tehran, Isfahan, Persia, Shiraz
- Iranian GovernmentAyatollah, judiciary, legislature, executive branch, theocracy
- North KoreaPyongyang, Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong-il
- Iranian Lawpenal code, judiciary, commercial code, election law, blasphemy law
- Islamic TheocracyKhomeini, Khamenei, divine authority, religious authority, ayatollah
- Shia ScholarsAyatollah Khomeini, Khamenei, Ayatollah, Khomeini, Hakim
Supreme Leadercommoner
Non-noble person
serf · slave · ordinary citizen · civilian · peasant
Supreme Leaderunderling
Person of lower rank
minion · peon · foot soldier · rank and file · grunt
Supreme Leaderparliament
National legislative assembly
legislature · council · assembly · committee · the people