Indigenous Governance Database
constitutional reform
Hepsi Barnett: How Did We Go About Remaking Our Constitution?
Former staff member Hepsi Barnett of the Osage Government Reform Commission discusses the process by which the Osage Nation approached the task of developing a new constitution and system of government, and also provides the complex history that necessitated their creation. This video…
Greg Gilham: Engaging the Nation's Citizens and Effecting Change: The Blackfeet Nation Story
Greg Gilham, Former Chair of the Blackfeet Nation's Constitution Reform Committee, discusses the process the committee developed to move constitutional reform forward.
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "The Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Path to Self-Determination"
Professor Joseph P. Kalt describes the dramatic rebirth of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, citing its development of capable governance as the key to its economic development success.
Virgil Edwards: How Are We Going About Remaking Our Constitution?
Blackfeet Constitution Reform Committee Member Virgil Edwards discusses the process the Blackfeet Nation devised to reform its constitution, and describes how politics ultimately derailed the process before it could produce a new constitution for the Blackfeet people. This video resource is…
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "The First Key to Effective Constitutions: Legitimacy"
Frank Ettawageshik, Joan Timeche and Frank Pommersheim discuss the importance of constitutional legitimacy to effective Native nation governance, and stress that the source of that legitimacy is the very people a constitution is designed to serve.
Honoring Nations: Hepsi Barnett: The Osage Government Reform Initiative
Former Osage Government Reform Commission Staff Member Hepsi Barnett discusses the historical events and resulting governance issues that prompted the Osage Nation to create an entirely new constitution and system of government in 2006.
Honoring Nations: Hepsi Barnett, Tony Fish and Joyce Wells: Reclaiming Native Nations (Q&A)
Native leaders Hepsi Barnett, Tony Fish, and Joyce Wells share a deeper level of detail about the roots and impacts of their nations' Honoring Nations award-winning programs.
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "Constitutions: Reflecting and Enacting Culture and Identity"
Hepsi Barnett, Frank Ettawageshik, Greg Gilham and Donald "Del" Laverdure offer their perspectives on the opportunity that constitutional reform presents Native nations with respect to reintegrating their distinct cultures and identities into their governance systems.
James R. Gray: Government Reform: Mobilizing Citizen Participation
Former Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray explains the significant citizen-engagement hurdle the Osage Nation had to overcome in creating a new constitution and governance system, and how its ability to cultivate citizen participation and ownership in the development of Osage's new government…
Priscilla Iba: Osage Government Reform
Osage Government Reform Commission Member Priscilla Iba discusses the historical factors that prompted the Osage Nation to create an entirely new constitution and governance system, and how the Nation went to great lengths to cultivate the participation and ownership of Osage citizens in the…
Frank Ettawageshik: Reforming the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Constitution: What We Did and Why
Frank Ettawageshik, Former Chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBBO), discusses how LTBBO came to develop a new constitution and system of government, the key components of the LTBBO constitution, and how the new LTBBO constitution differs in fundamental ways from the old…
Wilma Mankiller: Governance, Leadership and the Cherokee Nation
As part of its ongoing interview series "Leading Native Nations," the Native Nations Institute (NNI) interviewed Wilma Mankiller, the late and former Chief of the Cherokee Nation, in September 2008. In the interview, she discussed her compelling personal story as well as the challenges the Cherokee…
Regis Pecos: The Why of Making and Remaking Governing Systems
Former Cochiti Pueblo Governor Regis Pecos shares his thoughts about the ultimate purpose of constitutions, governments and governance from a Pueblo perspective, and argues that constitutional reform presents Native nations with a precious opportunity to reclaim and reinvigorate their cultures and…
Constitutional Reform: A Wrap-Up Discussion (Q&A)
NNI "Tribal Constitutions" seminar presenters, panelists and participants Robert Breaker, Julia Coates, Frank Ettawageshik, Miriam Jorgensen, Gwen Phillips, Ian Record, Melissa L. Tatum and Joan Timeche field questions from the audience about separations of powers, citizenship, blood quantum and…
Frank Ettawageshik and Gwen Phillips: Reforming Our Nations' Constitutions: What We Did and Why (Q&A)
Frank Ettawageshik, former Chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and Gwen Phillips, Ktunaxa Nation Director of Corporate Services and Governance Transition, field questions from the audience about their presentations detailing how their nations either reformed or are in…
Frank Pommersheim: A Key Constitutional Issue: Dispute Resolution
University of South Dakota Professor of Law Frank Pommersheim discusses the key constitutional issue of dispute resolution and presents three cases demonstrating how tribes are endowing their constitutions with legitimacy through the careful, thoughtful resolution of disputes.
Native Nation Building TV: "Constitutions and Constitutional Reform"
Guests Joseph P. Kalt and Sophie Pierre explore the evidence that strong Native nations require strong foundations, which necessarily require the development of effective, internally created constitutions (whether written or unwritten). It examines the impacts a constitution has on the people it…
Frank Pommersheim: A Key Constitutional Issue: Dispute Resolution (Q&A)
University of South Dakota Professor of Law Frank Pommersheim fields audience questions about the importance of civic engagement to constitutional reform, removing the Secretary of Interior Approval clause from tribal constitutions, and other important topics.
Native Nation Building TV: "Bonus Segment on Native Nation Building"
Joan Timeche, Stephen Cornell and Ian Record with the Native Nations Institute at The University of Arizona discuss the "Native Nation Building" television and radio series and the research findings at heart of the series in a televised interview in January 2007.This video resource is featured on…
Todd Hembree: A Key Constitutional Issue: Separations of Powers
Cherokee Nation Attorney General Todd Hembree discusses the critical role of separations of powers in effective Native nation governance, and provides an overview of how the Cherokee Nation instituted an array of separations of powers in the development of their new constitution, which was ratified…