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Tribes As Rich Nations, Raymond Cross

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article critiques the contemporary doctrine of Indian tribal self-determination thirty years after its inception in President Richard M. Nixon's famed 1970 Indian Message to Congress.

The first part focuses on the three most prominent strategies for tribal self-determination: 1) tribal strategy that seeks to "morph" their inherent and reserved sovereign powers into tribal regulatory powers that are effective throughout Indian Country; 2) tribal strategy that seeks to develop and assert economic sovereignty over their lands, resources, and commercial relationships as a means of revitalizing Indian Country; and 3) tribal strategy that seeks to reassert traditional cultural and religious beliefs …