American Indian Politics and the American Political System

by David E. Wilkins

Since American Indians and Alaskan Natives are the indigenous peoples of North America, why do we fail to acknowledge them as having the first forms of national government? Indian nations are sovereign—they have their own tribal governments, their own separate territories, and they are able to negotiate treaties, exercise taxing authority over persons and businesses in their nations, and operate gambling casinos, among other things. At the same time, the individuals who constitute Native nations have also been declared U.S. citizens subject to congressional legislation, presidential decrees, and rulings by the Supreme Court. The conflict between these two political states of being—and the struggle of Indian nations and tribes to control their own political destiny—form the focal points of this book.

American Indian Politics and the American Political System brings together in one source a comprehensive introduction to the history, structure, and function of tribal governments, their relationship to contemporary American politics, and the rights of individual Indians who are often caught in between these frequently contentious sovereigns. As David E. Wilkins expertly demonstrates, American Indian politics today is an elaborate braid of tribal government, American citizenship, indigenous activism, economic development, media attention, and cultural identity. Here, the many strands of American Indian politics come together in a beautiful and authoritative large format book, reader-friendly in every way. Photos, maps, and highlighted case studies add to the highly visual presentation overall.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 23, 2001

Reviews

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wilkins work reads more like a textbook than as an academic text written for other academics. As a result, American Indian Politics and the American Political System at times reads like a survey of Native American political history. For someone who does not have as much knowledge of this history as they feel that they should, this makes for a useful resource, but the text doesn’t carry the intellectual charge as work that more explicitly engages with postcolonial/decolonial theory.

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview for those beginning with American Indian politics, the history of federal Indian law, etc. I was given this book back in 2011 when I first began studying American Indians. It serves to spark and interest and briefly begins to explain things to those just entering Federal Indian law--or those that are just curious. I would recommend it for beginners, but eventually you will need to branch out to case specific studies.

[Mills College Library]

323.1197 W684a 2011

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The organization of the chapters is a little weird (both the order of the chapters and sections within them), but otherwise a clear and fairly
comprehensive overview of a complicated topic.