Sovereignty and nation-building: The development challenge in Indian country today

Abstract

In Sovereignty and Nation-Building: The Development Challenge in Indian Country Today, Cornell and Kalt (1998) argue that economic success, and the reduction of unemployment and welfare dependency, is more likely in the case of American Indian tribes if governance is characterised by five principles. In a number of articles and talks on Maori nation building projects in Aotearoa/New Zealand, reference has recently been made to Cornell and Kalt and to one or more of these five principles. Thus, for example, Dodd, in an article published in the Journal of Maori and Pacific Development in 2000, argues that Iwi governance structures should involve a separation of governance and management and should be consistent with indigenous ideas about the location and exercise of authority (2000, p.7). She refers, in this context, to the work of Cornell and Kalt, and quotes Eade who observes that “it is doubtful that an organisation that itself maintains oppressive social structures can be a reliable vehicle for transforming these in a liberating way, whatever the rhetoric” (Eade 1997, p. 26). More recently in this Journal, Tiakiwai and Bishop (2002, p. 36), note that Cornell and Kalt (1998, p.2) found a “positive correlation between self-determination and successful development as defined by the tribe”, and observe that what they refer to as the ‘decade of Maori development’ provides concrete Maori examples of development theorizing in line with Eade (1997) and the assertions of Cornell and Kalt (1998). The article by Cornell and Kalt which appears to be most often quoted in the context of Maori nation building projects first appeared in 1998. The extent of its current influence in Aotearoa/New Zealand suggests that a careful re-examination of it at this point could prove useful.