| Abstract: | Relations between American Indian tribes and state governmentsare poorly understood; they have been inaccurately portrayedas exclusively or increasingly conflictual. This study balancessuch perceptions and identifies constructive patterns of state-tribalrelations that developed between 1970 and 2003. President RichardM. Nixon's 1970 policy of Indian self-determination affirmedIndian tribes' survival; yet it failed, in the context of tribes'extraconstitutional status, to clarify their relationship tostate governments. Since then, entrepreneurial tribal leadershave asserted sovereign governmental status while advocatingpractical and substantive cooperation with state governmentsin place of adversarial and legalistic relations. The partialsuccess of these efforts has produced new intergovernmentalmechanisms and the development of state-tribal relations asan ongoing and increasingly normalized category of intergovernmentalrelations, even amidst conflict over tribal gaming and a shiftingpolitical and legal environment. |
