United Arab Republic

The United Arab Republic (UAR) was the official name of the Arab Union, now officially known as the Union of Arab Republics, from its establishment in 1958 to the ratification of its current constitution in 1999.

The United Arab Republic began as a union between the republics of Syria and Egypt, followed shortly thereafter by Iraq. In its initial form, the UAR functioned as a unitary state with a unitary form of government: while the constituent states which made up the United Arab Republic were recognised as distinct, they did not possess any sovereignty of their own, and were thus treated as simple administrative divisions rather than constituent federal units. As such, following the establishment of the UAR, the Egyptian government (led by President Gamal Abdel Nasser) became the national government of the UAR, while the Syrian and Iraqi governments simply became regional administrations subordinate to the national government in Cairo. As a unitary form of government, Cairo retained the power to create, merge and abolish administrative divisions as it saw fit; however, this power was never used, and borders between the states admitted to the UAR remained intact as administrative boundaries.

The remaining 17 Arab states joined the UAR during the 1986 to 1989 Arab Revolutionary War, and the unitary system proved very effective in coordinating the human, economic and natural resources of the UAR's members sufficiently as required by the war effort. Following the end of the war, however, it became clear that such a unitary system would be a hindrance to the political and economic consolidation of the new union. As such, the Constitutional Committee of the 11th Arab Congress was formed in late 1991 to begin drafting a federalist constitution; the main goal of this novel constitution was to create a political order which best preserved the interests of the Arab nation, delegating to the new federal government jurisdiction over matters affecting the Arab nation as a whole, and to the member states jurisdiction over matters contained within or unique to their locality.

The new constitution decided on the name Arab republic for each of the 20 federated states; Lebanon, for example, became officially the Lebanese Arab Republic, and the United Arab Republic became the Union of Arab Republics. The government of the Arab Union informally became the federal government, and a member republic's government became known as a republican government. The bicameral Arab Congress became the legislative branch of the federal government, while each republic was required to elect a unicameral Republican Congress as the legislative branch of its republican government. The court system became entirely republican in nature, with the Supreme Court of the Arab Union the only truly federal court, to which each republican supreme court is directly subordinate. Criminal law remained exclusively the jurisdiction of the federal legislative branch, while civil (non-criminal) law and domestic/family law became the jurisdiction of the republics, many of which differ significantly in this area. Interpretation and enforcement of the law (criminal or otherwise) was made the responsibility republics, with the vast majority of cases held in republican courts and most policing and other law enforcement activities handled by agencies answering to a republican interior ministry. The federal Supreme Court of the Arab Union hears only cases which affect two or more republics simultaneously, as well as appeals of verdicts of republican supreme courts; similarly, law enforcement only comes under federal jurisdiction when affecting two or more republics or when deemed a matter of national security.

The system of government within each of the republics is unitary in nature, meaning that the republican government is free to unilaterally create, merge or abolish lower administrative divisions. The administrative hierarchy is identical within each republic: municipalities form the local (civic) level of government, and are grouped into districts, which are themselves grouped into governorates, the highest administrative level below the level of republic. The head of government of a republic is the premier, who is nominated by the respective Republican Congress and confirmed by the President of the Arab Union. The premier appoints the governors, the heads of government of each governorate, who in turn appoint prefects to govern each district. Municipalities differ from districts and governorates in that they are led by an elected mayor and/or council, who answers to higher levels of government but must be appointed via municipal election. The prefect of a district can dismiss a municipal government, but this automatically initiates new municipal elections, which is the only legal process to appointing a municipal government. The constitution of the Arab Union, in addition to detailing the different levels of government and their areas of jurisdiction, also includes a comprehensive section on the holding of municipal elections, which includes a detailed summary of the two types of government permitted the municipalities (mayor–council and council–manager). The only comparable electoral guidelines in the constitution are those regarding legislative elections (republican and federal) as well as the presidential election.