Republics of the Arab Union

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The Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally the Arab Union) is a federal republic in North Africa and Western Asia, consisting of twenty federated states, officially known as the Arab republics (Arabic: الجمهوريات العربية al-jumhūriyāt al-ʿarabīyah) or informally simply as republics (جمهوريات jumhūriyāt).

According to the Constitution of the Arab Union, the twenty republics are coequal and share sovereignty with the government of the Arab Union; they are administered by state governments officially known as governorates, each led by an elected governor and entrusted with administering much of the domestic affairs of the republic for which the respective governorate is responsible. Certain areas of responsibility, such as healthcare, emergency services, infrastructure, etc. are jointly under the administration of federal- and republican-level agencies, with additional legislation delineating where the exact responsibilities of federal agencies end and those of republican agencies begin. While each republic has its own head of government (the governor), distinct from the all-union head of government (the Prime Minister), the office of head of state at all levels is vested in the President of the Arab Union.

The Arab Union consists of 22 top-level administrative divisions: the republics of the Arab Union constitute 20 of these top-level divisions, while the remaining two include the Kurdistan Autonomous Region and Gamal Abdel Nasser Capital District. Unlike the republics, the remaining two administrative divisions do not share sovereignty with the federal government, instead practicing a level of autonomy similar to the republics but at the pleasure of the federal government via a process known as devolution.

List of republics[edit | edit source]