Rethinking Tribal Sovereignty

Dr. Vine Deloria Jr. in his keynote address at the May 26, 1995 Sovereignty Forum, sponsored by the American Indian Policy Center presented his viewpoint on tribal sovereignty. Dr. Deloria,  a member of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (South Dakota) and a political scientist, professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, proposed a re-thinking of tribal sovereignty.

In his address Dr. Deloria noted that sovereignty is a difficult concept for Indians to understand since it it not a traditional Indian concept. Rather it originates from medieval Europe. In his re-thinking of sovereignty he suggests breaking it into three parts - external sovereignty, internal sovereignty and property rights. In his view external sovereignty is the basis for tribes to interact as nations with other political entities, internal sovereignty consists of political and legal activities within the tribe's boundaries and their own members, lastly his view on property rights adopts a US government perspective that if you own the property you own everything about it.

With this view he believes that this 3-piece model of sovereignty can be used to address many problems with at least of 2 of the 3 pieces each time.

To read the full article about Dr. Deloria's perspective click on Rethinking Tribal Sovereignty.

Source:

 Rethinking Tribal Sovereignty, 1995 Sovereignty Forum, American Indian Policy Center

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