American Indians and the Trouble with Sovereignty

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American Indians and the Trouble with Sovereignty is written by Kouslaa T. Kessler-Mata and published by Cambridge University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1108244998 (ISBN 10) and 9781108244992 (ISBN 13).

With tribes and individual Indians increasingly participating in American electoral politics, this study examines the ways in which tribes work together with state and local governments to overcome significant governance challenges. Much scholarship on tribal governance continues to rely on a concept of tribal sovereignty that does not allow for or help structure this type of governance activity. The resulting tension which emerges in both theory and practice from American Indian intergovernmental affairs is illuminated here and the limits of existing theory are confronted. Kessler-Mata presents an argument for tribal sovereignty to be normatively understood and pragmatically pursued through efforts aimed at interdependence, not autonomy. By turning toward theories of federalism and freedom in the republican tradition, the author provides an alternative framework for thinking about the goals and aspirations of tribal self-determination.