Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper examines the structures, methods, and values of Indigenous Nations in the U.S. that are in the process of revising or creating new governing systems to better reflect their political, legal, and cultural identities in the twenty-first century. Since Native nations continue to be subject to congressional plenary (virtually absolute) power, their political reform efforts may be quashed or substantially constrained if they are perceived by federal policy makers as acting in a manner that threatens the perceived superiority of the state. Notwithstanding those constraints, many Native nations are drawing upon their distinctive Indigenous cultural identities to arrive at new institutional configurations that more closely comport with historically-derived values and principles