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Liberalism And Republicanism: In Federal Indian Law, Bethany Berger

Faculty Articles and Papers

This essay shows the ways that, despite apparent contradictions, tribal claims fit within the liberal and republican strands of American democratic theory. Critics of tribal sovereignty and, I believe, the modern Supreme Court, are influenced by the seeming conflict between tribal interests and a liberal philosophical framework. I argue that properly understood, most tribal claims do fit within classical liberal theory, with its emphasis on equality and freedom. It is true that some tribal claims are distinctly those of groups or peoples, and so cannot be adequately captured by an individualist liberal framework. Drawing on the later work of John …