State committee (Arab Union)

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A state committee (Arabic: لجنة الدولة lajnat ad-dawlah; pl. لجنات الدولة lajnāt ad-dawlah) is a type of executive body serving the Government of the Arab Union. Like ministries (standard executive departments), state committees are directly subordinate to the Council of Ministers, the top executive body of the Government of the Arab Union which serves as the cabinet of the Prime Minister; each chairperson in charge of a particular state committee is thus a sitting member of the Council of Ministers, identical in practice to a minister in charge of a particular ministry.

Unlike ministries, however, which are assigned administration of a well-defined responsibility of state administration or economy which practically never overlap, state committees are instead defined by a specific mission or goal, which despite often involving a significant degree of independent activity can often overlap with the jurisdictional areas of responsibility of one or more ministries. State committees are exclusively federal in nature, with republican executive governments only overseeing ministries. However, many state committees, despite answering to the federal government, have subordinate subcommittees in each republic responsible for carrying out the committee's responsibilities in that particular republic, which usually report to the respective republican government in addition to the committee chairperson who is part of the federal cabinet (the Council of Ministers).

List of state committees[edit | edit source]

  • Joint Security Committee – the primary domestic secret police, border patrol, government communications and cryptology, and foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and counterterrorism apparatus.
  • State Elections Committee – responsible for organising, conducting and publishing results of all federal and republican elections.
  • State Committee for Civil Reform – responsible for directing the implementation of civil reforms ordered by referendums and congressional bills or, less commonly, by executive order.
  • State Committee for Republics – responsible for promoting and maintaining clear, regular and productive communication between the republican and federal levels of government, including presenting republics' problems requiring federal government appraisal, as well as overseeing the process of admitting new republics, merging existing republics and modifying inter-republican boundaries.
  • State Committee for National Reconciliation – primarily responsible for handling the de-escalation and ultimate settling of historically ingrained, outdated and harmful enmities both within the widespread Arab communities and between the Arab majority and linguistic, ethnic and/or religious minorities.
  • State Revenue Committee – administers corporate law, UAR tax law including foreign tariffs, federal and republican income tax and corporate tax, conducts audits of private, public and state enterprises, and administers tax benefits.
  • State Enterprise Committee – responsible for incorporating and supervising state enterprises at the federal level.
  • State Committee for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction – administers the federal public assistance (welfare and disability benefits) system, recommends to government and/or directly oversees the implementation of economic growth and/or poverty reduction plans, and, in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, compiles and releases annual reports on the state of poverty and health of the economy in the Arab Union.
  • State Committee for Environmental Protection and Climate Change – recommends green energy and other environmentally-friendly strategies to the federal and republican levels of government, administers existing environmental protection and climate change alleviation programs, and compiles and releases annual reports on the current state of climate change, especially in relation to its effects on the domestic climate.
  • State Committee for Economic Regulation – charged with regulating non-governmental (private or public) enterprises in accordance with the socialist and Ba'athist values of government, compiling and releasing annual reports on the level of adherence to legal limitations on the capitalist sector.
  • State Committee for Nationalisation and Expropriation – charged with the nationalisation of formerly non-governmental enterprises and the expropriation of private property for public/state use, either with or without compensation to the former private owner(s) depending on individual circumstances.
  • State Committee for Agricultural Reform – similar to the above committee, converts privately owned farmland into either state-owned or cooperative agricultural enterprises, the latter significantly more common.
  • State Committee for Trade Unions – administers government/state relationship with trade unions, legally registers newly formed unions, and supports existing unions' activities including via financial subsidies.
  • State Committee for Defence Industry – charged with overseeing the domestic production and foreign importation of all weapons and other military technologies, equipment, vehicles (with the exception of aircraft and spacecraft) and the remainder of the defence apparatus, including ensuring the continued modernisation of said apparatus in keeping with new technological developments and breakthroughs.
  • State Committee for Aerospace Industry – charged with the state-sponsored research and development of both military and civilian aircraft and spacecraft.
  • State Media Committee – oversees the activity of official media, including printed material, radio and television broadcasts, and internet content of the federal government; for example, oversees the official printed and online newspaper Al-Baath, and the radio, television and internet government news agency Moassatel.
  • State Accreditation Committee – responsible for overseeing the establishment in accordance with law and ultimate accreditation of new scholastic, social and other non-governmental institutions; most commonly accredits secondary and post-secondary educational institutions, and ensures said institutions' keeping with their accreditation requirements via biannual audits.