Introduction

Guides for Indigenous Governance is a joint publication series of The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy. The Harvard Project and Native Nations Institute are dedicated to allowing Indigenous communities to learn from each other as they address the challenges of self-determination through self-governance. The Guides provide leaders and communities with practical information gathered from the real world experience of Indigenous nations and communities worldwide.

The examples provided in this Guide have been collected from an extensive search of publicly available American Indian tribal constitutions. The sources consulted included the National Indian Law Library, National Tribal Justice Resource Center, and numerous individual Indian nation websites. Editing of constitutional provisions here has been done only as necessary to shorten length. Public repositories and sources are not consistently updated, and no representation is made here that the cited examples represent currently in-force constitutions and their provisions. Rather, the cited examples are provided solely to provide information and perspective on provisions that various Indian nations have used now and/or in the past in their constitutions. The year indicated along with each cited provision represents the year of constitutional adoption or amendment in which the noted provision was contained in the cited constitution.

Finally, the cited examples DO NOT constitute recommendations or criticisms. It is for each sovereign nation to decide whether it wishes to follow, reject or adapt the examples of other nations’ constitutional provisions.

The views expressed here are solely those of the authors, as are any errors or omissions. They do not necessarily represent those of the sponsoring and supporting organizations or any of their employees, past or present.