decentralized authority

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Kin-Based Governments Can Be Successful and Profitable

Kin-Based Governments Can Be Successful and Profitable

A key to understanding American Indian nations, and Indigenous Peoples in general, is local community organization. Local groups, as basic building blocks of indigenous nations, play a powerful role in tribal or national consensus building and decision-making. The ways that local indigenous groups…

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Muscogee Constitutional Jurisprudence: Vhakv Em Pvtakv (The Carpet Under The Law)

Muscogee Constitutional Jurisprudence: Vhakv Em Pvtakv (The Carpet Under The Law)

In 1974, a group of Mvskoke citizens from Oklahoma sued the federal government in federal court. Hanging in the balance was the future of Mvskoke self-determination. The plaintiffs insisted that their 1867 Constitution remained in full effect, and that they still governed themselves pursuant to it…