Borough (Arab Union)

In the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally known as the Arab Union), a borough (Arabic: قصبة qaṣbah; plur. قصبات qaṣbāt) is a defined section of a populous municipality which typically maintains its own local council with limited powers of self-government. Borough councils are subordinate to the municipality in which they are located, but in practice have more control over their day-to-day affairs than the municipal council, which primarily concerns itself with larger-scale matters and/or matters affecting the municipality as a whole.

All municipalities in the Arab Union with a population exceeding one million consist of a number of boroughs, as do many smaller (typically densely populated) municipalities. The creation, alteration and abolition of boroughs falls under the jurisdiction of the municipality, meaning boroughs, while autonomous, are nonetheless ultimately subject to municipal policy. While boroughs function as de facto administrative divisions of their respective municipality, they are not officially counted as administrative divisions at the republican or federal levels of government, with municipalities considered the lowest administrative level within the three-tier hierarchy used in the Arab Union.