Joseph P. Kalt

The First Nations Governance Act: Implications of Research Findings from the United States and Canada

Year

In the spring of 2002, the Office of the British Columbia Regional Vice-Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) asked the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at The University of Arizona to provide that office with an analysis of the First Nations Governance Act (Bill C-61). In particular, AFN asked us to evaluate the proposed legislation from the point of view of the research
findings of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. This report is the result of that request.

Native Nations
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Citation

Cornell, Stephen, Miriam Jorgensen, Joseph P. Kalt. "The First Nations Governance Act: Implications of Research Findings from the United States and Canada." Office of the British Columbia Regional Vice-Chief, Assembly of First Nations. Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. July 2002. Report.

American Indian Self-Determination: The Political Economy of a Successful Policy

Year

Examines the changing level of congressional support for the federal American Indian policy aimed at promoting self-determination, through self-governance of federally recognized tribes. 

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Cornell, Stephen, Joseph P. Kalt. "American Indian Self-Determination: The Political Economy of a Successful Policy." JOPNA Working Paper No. 1. Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, Harvard Project for American Indian Economic Development, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2010. 

Sovereignty and Nation-Building: The Development Challenge in Indian Country Today

Producer
American Indian and Culture Journal
Year

The Indian nations of the United States face a rare opportunity. This is not the occasional business opportunity of reservation legend, when some eager investor would arrive at tribal offices with a proposal guaranteed to produce millions of dollars for the tribe--although such investors still appear, promises in hand. Nor is it the niche economic opportunity of gaming, although that has transformed some tribes' situations in important ways. This opportunity is a political and organizational one. It is a chance to rethink, restructure, reorganize--chance not to start a business or exploit an economic niche but to substantially reshape the future. It is the opportunity for nation-building.

Native Nations
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Citation

Cornell, Stephen, Joseph P. Kalt. "Sovereignty and Nation-Building: The Development Challenge in Indian Country Today." Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs No. 2003-03. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2003. JOPNA.

Alaska Native Self-Government and Service Delivery: What Works?

Year

The Native peoples of Alaska have governed themselves for far longer than either the State of Alaska or the United States. Indeed, their rights of self-government are properly defended as basic human rights that are not unilaterally extinguishable by these other governments. Yet, today an assortment of questions are being raised about key aspects of Alaska Native self-governance.

Among these are questions such as: What form should Native self-government take? What powers should it include? In which communities or groups should those powers be vested? Additional questions are being raised about how the delivery of social services to Alaska Natives is organized. Who should be responsible for service delivery, and what form should service delivery take?

Such questions in many cases represent disingenuous attacks on Native rights of self-rule. They also present direct challenges to the ways that Alaska Natives currently govern themselves and to how services currently are delivered.

Native Nations
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Citation

Cornell, Stephen, Joseph P. Kalt. "Alaska Native Self-Government and Service Delivery: What Works?" Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2003. JOPNA.

Reloading the Dice: Improving the Chances for Economic Development on American Indian Reservations

Year

The experiences of a wide array of societies around the world amply demonstrate that achieving sustained, self-determined economic development is a complex and difficult task. Certainly this is the case on the Indian reservations of the United States, where numerous obstacles face tribal leaders, managers, and other individuals concerned about the economic well-being of their peoples.

Native Nations
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Cornell, Stephen, Joseph P. Kalt. "Reloading the Dice: Improving the Chances for Economic Development on American Indian Reservations". Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs No. 2003-02. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Native Nations Insitute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2003. JOPNA.

Myths and Realities of Tribal Sovereignty: The Law and Economics of Indian Self-Rule

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The last three decades have witnessed a remarkable resurgence of the American Indian nations in the United States. The foundation of this resurgence has been the exercise of self-government (sovereignty) by the more than 560 federally- recognized tribes in the U.S. In this study, we explore legal and economic dimensions of current perceptions of and debates over the nature and extent of tribal self-rule in the United States. Our objective is to clarify and illuminate by distinguishing between myth and reality. We address key threads of thought and assumption that pervade, accurately or inaccurately, discussions in the public policy arena. What emerges is a picture in which tribes do exercise substantial, albeit limited, sovereignty. This sovereignty is not a set of special rights. Rather, its roots lie in the fact that Indian nations pre-exist the United States and their sovereignty has been diminished, but not terminated. Tribal sovereignty is recognized and protected by the U.S. Constitution, legal precedent, and treaties, as well as applicable principles of human rights.

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Citation

Kalt, Joseph P., Joseph William Singer. "Myths and Realities of Tribal Sovereignty: The Law and Economics of Indian Self-Rule". Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs No. 2004-03, The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2004. JOPNA.

Two Approaches to Economic Development on American Indian Reservations: One Works, the Other Doesn't

Year

As much of the world knows, American Indian nations are poor. What much of the world doesn't know is that in the last quarter century, a number of these nations have broken away from the prevailing pattern of poverty. They have moved aggressively to take control of their futures and rebuild their nations, rewriting constitutions, reshaping economies, and reinvigorating indigenous community and culture. Today, they are creating sustainable, self-determined economies and building societies that work.

What's the secret of such performance? Is it luck? Is it leadership? Is it education, or having the right resources, or being located in the right place, or picking a winning economic project that provides hundreds of jobs and saves the day? Is it tribal gaming? How can we account for these "breakaway" tribes? Is there an approach to economic development that offers promise throughout Indian Country?

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Cornell, Stephen, Joseph P. Kalt. "Two Approaches to Economic Development on American Indian Reservations: One Works, the Other Doesn't". Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs No. 2005-02. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2005. JOPNA.

Seizing the Future: Why Some Native Nations Do and Others Don't

Year

Both research and the experience among Native nations daily drive home the conclusion that the so-called "nation-building" approach holds the keys to self-determined social, political, and economic development for indigenous communities. This approach emphasizes the critical role of asserting rights of self-rule and backing up those assertions with governing institutions that are legitimate in the eyes of the people and efficient in their operation. This study examines the question of why is it that some Native nations seize upon the nation building strategy and take effective control of their futures while others do not. We find that foundational change in a community arises when the external and internal conditions a people face interact with their interpretations of their situation, producing a new, shared "story" of what is possible, and how it can be achieved. The keys to changing a community's "story" are found in proactive decisions to alter internal and external situations, acquire concrete knowledge of the feasible, build on the community's cultural assets, and exercise leadership--especially in educating the people in a new vision.

Native Nations
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Cornell, Stephen, Miriam Jorgensen, Joseph P. Kalt, Katherine A. Spilde. "Seizing the Future: Why Some Native Nations Do and Others Don't." Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs No. 2005-01. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, The University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2005. JOPNA.

The Context and Meaning of Family Strengthening in Indian America

Year

This report presents five specific, field-based case studies of successful efforts to support the well-being of Native American children. These successful programs were conceived of, implemented by, and generally funded by Tribal communities. These programs include the Ya Ne Day ah School in Chickaloon Village, Alaska; the Whirling Thunder Wellness Program on the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska; the Fond du Lac Foster Care Licensing and Placement Agency in Northern Minnesota; the Gila River Youth Council in Arizona; and the Menominee Community Center of Chicago.

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Besaw, Amy, Joseph P. Kalt, Andre Lee, Jasmin Sethi, Julie Boatright Wilson, Marie Zemler. "The Context and Meaning of Family Strengthening in Indian American." Annie E. Casey Foundation. Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. August 2004. Report.

American Indians on Reservations: A Databook of Socioeconomic Change Between the 1990 and 2000 Censuses

Year

This study compiles 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census data on Native Americans residing on reservations and in designated Indian statistical areas in the lower 48 U.S. States. Gaming and non- gaming areas are compared to each other and to the U.S. as a whole. Data on fifteen measures ranging from income and poverty to employment and housing conditions indicate that, although substantial gaps remain between America’s Native population and the rest of the U.S., rapid economic development is taking place among gaming and non-gaming tribes alike.

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Citation

Taylor, Jonathan, Joseph P. Kalt. "American Indians on Reservations: A Databook of Socioeconomic Change Between the 1990 and 2000." Cabazon, The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and The Socioeconomic Consequences of American Indian Governmental Gaming: A Ten-Year Review. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. January 2005. Report.