The Navajo Political Experience

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Rowman & Littlefield, Oct 25, 2013 - Political Science - 280 pages
Native nations, like the Navajo nation, have proven to be remarkably adept at retaining and exercising ever-increasing amounts of self-determination even when faced with powerful external constraints and limited resources. Now in this fourth edition of David E. Wilkins' The Navajo Political Experience, political developments of the last decade are discussed and analyzed comprehensively, and with as much accessibility as thoroughness and detail. The Diné people and their governing leaders have recently experienced a host of events that dramatically affected the shape of the nation – a plethora of effective grassroots organizations that had a profound impact on the structure of the Navajo political system, a dramatic reduction in the size of the legislative branch from eighty-eight to twenty-four members, the introduction of institutional gambling, unresolved battles over water rights, and a tense political crisis that pitted the legislative branch against the judicial branch as the court sought to ensure that the Fundamental Law was to be adhered to by all governing bodies. These and other developments are examined in this new edition, which includes three new appendices : The Navajo Fundamental Law of 2002; The Diné Natural Resource Protection Act of 2005; and Nelson v. Shirley (2010), which add to the book's value as a classroom tool and a primary source.
 

Contents

Foundations of Diné Government and Relations with the United States
1
Institutions of Diné Government
107
Political Dynamics of Diné Government
159
List of Appendices
207
Appendix A
209
Appendix B
235
Appendix C
237
Appendix D
241
Appendix F
255
Appendix G
259
Appendix H
263
Appendix I
267
Appendix J
271
Appendix K
277
Index
293
About the Author
307

Appendix E
249

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About the author (2013)

David E. Wilkins is McKnight Presidential Professor of American Indian Studies and adjunct professor of political science and law at the University of Minnesota.

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