Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Co-Director Stephen Cornell stresses the importance of Native nations exercising sovereignty effectively over time as an important way to defend their sovereignty.
Additional Information
Cornell, Stephen. "Self-Determination and Governance Are Related." Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy. University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2011. Lecture.
Transcript
"Now, I should say before moving on from this topic that self-determination and governance are related. We had a leader of one Indian Nation here in the United States who said to us, "The best defense of sovereignty is to exercise it effectively." It's not to litigate, it's not to end up in court, it's to build that track record that says we are better at the decisions that we have in front of us, better at making those decisions and implementing them than anyone else is. You exercise sovereignty effectively and in doing so, you in a sense build that defense around it. It's the defense of an accomplished track record of acting like a sovereign."
