Tribal Self Determination at the Crossroads

Abstract:     
The tribal self determination initiative that began transforming federal Indian policy thirty years ago has reached a crossroads. Despite its transformative effects on tribal governments and the widespread belief that self determination has been a successful federal approach to Indian affairs, no new self determination initiatives have occurred, at least at the Congressional level, in several years. This Essay looks to self determination's past to gain insights about its future and concludes that far more work needs to be done to achieve tribal self determination. Drawing on the author's broader work, it argues that one fruitful subject for further work is the area of tribal criminal justice.

Keywords: Indians, Indian tribes, Native Americans, criminal law

JEL Classifications: K10

Accepted Paper Series