Becoming Nations Again
North America’s Indigenous inhabitants operated effective governments long before European arrival. Tribes built cities, developed laws, and participated in transcontinental trade networks. European arrival, however, brought many hardships for Indians. Although tribes were guaranteed the right to self-govern on reservations, the United States imposed severe restraints on tribal autonomy, resulting in socioeconomic maladies, such as poverty and crime. Today, federal policies continue to inhibit tribal self-governance. As a result, tribes continue to suffer from these social ills. Becoming Nations Again argues that empowering tribal governments is the key to solving tribal problems. It moves to liberate tribes from the antiquated regulations that apply only to tribal lands and allow tribes to exercise jurisdiction over all people on their land. Once this occurs, tribes will be free to implement their own laws and participate in the federalist system. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Adam Crepelle is an assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He received the Elinor Ostrom Prize in 2023 for his coauthored article “Community Policing on American Indian Reservations.” He is the coauthor of the upcoming book Reservation Capitalism: Economic Development in Indian Country (2d ed. 2025).
Open access