Authorities of the governnorates under the regional administrative decentralization in Iraq

Regional administrative decentralization, a type of decentralized system, is the transfer of authority and responsibility from the central government to local administrative units; however, these units can only make administrative decisions but not the laws, just as federalism. In Iraq, based on its constitution and the Law of the Governorates Not Incorporated into a Region No. 21 of 2008 (LGNIR), there are 15 governorates that are practising regional administrative decentralization. Yet, these governorates have been issuing laws and this contradicts the constitution as well as the LGNIR. The objective of this study is to examine the regional administrative decentralization under the Iraqi Constitution and LGNIR with the aim of finding a practical solution to the current problem. This study utilized qualitative approach whereby face-to-face interview was employed. The primary data were collected from five groups of people namely members of the Iraqi Parliament, chancellors of the State Shura Council, heads and members of the governorate councils, heads of the governorate councils’ legal
department and relevant university lecturers. The constitution and laws of Iraq as well as those from other countries were the other sources of primary data in this study. Most of the secondary data were obtained from academic writings in books and journals. The findings of this study indicate that the contradictory decisions from the Federal Supreme Court, the restrictions placed on the powers of the administrative court (State Shura Council) and the loopholes in the provisions regulating the governorate authorities of the LGNIR have led the governorates to go against the constitution by
issuing laws. These findings have facilitated the identification of obstacles that hamper the resolution of the problem and finding of practical solutions. As such, this study recommends that the performance of the Federal Supreme Court must be improved, and the Iraqi Parliament should grant broader powers to the administrative courts and amend the LGNIR.