Powers of Governorates under the Law of Governorates that are not organized in a Region No. 21 of 2008

The purpose of this paper focuses on the powers enjoyed by the governorates under the Law of the Governorates No. 21 of 2008. This paper will explore whether the powers of the Governorates commensurate with the concept and elements of the administrative decentralization? It will be conducted through doctrinal approach; data will be collected through secondary source by examining the contribution scholars in this field. This paper concludes that the powers exercised by the governorates exceed what is recognized by the administrative decentralization of its elements. Also, the governorates are almost up to the level of the regions adopting the federal system leading to the occurrence of many of the problems in the application of the legal provisions. Hence, the Iraqi legislator should amend the constitutional provisions and the legal provisions which equate the regions with the governorates in the exercise of the powers and reduce the powers enjoyed by the governorates that are compatible with being an administrative unit.