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Reviews
| American Indian Constitutional Reform and the Rebuilding of Native Nations. Edited by Eric D. Lemont. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006. xiii + 343 pp. Notes and index. $55.00 (cloth); $21.95 (paper).
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Two major, and seemingly separate, trends marked the end of the twentieth century. Internationally, constitutionalism emerged as a popular response to rising concerns about human rights, economic development, and the rule of law. Major constitutional revisions occurred in North America, southern Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and most recently in the Middle East. Simultaneously, the U.S. government adopted a domestic policy of promoting the sovereignty and independence of American Indian nations. A fascinating and informative book edited by Eric Lemont, a research fellow at the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, illustrates how these two trends intersected. While American Indian Constitutional Reform investigates the specific issues facing some American Indian nations as they embarked on constitutional reforms in response to the U.S. government's self-determination policy, it speaks more universally to the challenges of constitution making and will be of interest to constitutional reformers, advocates, and scholars around the world. |
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The book, which has an interdisciplinary focus, is split into three parts and effectively combines academic commentaries with the voices of indigenous peoples involved in constitutional reforms in each. The book's first section explores generally why American Indian nations engage in constitutional reform. Duane Champagne and Elmer Rusco highlight the colonial legacy of American Indian constitutions and constitution making, and David Wilkins discusses the multitude of forces that contribute to the decision to undertake constitutional reform. |
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In the second section, the focus narrows to specific issues frequently faced by American Indian nations in their constitutional reform efforts. Chapters by Carole Goldberg, Joseph Flies-Away, and Joseph Kalt discuss two general subjects faced by all constitution makers: who constitutes the community and how should that community govern. While these are universal themes, firsthand accounts of indigenous constitution makers reveal how they play out in American Indian nations. These insightful accounts explore difficult questions of membership and enrollment and the creation of stable and effective governmental institutions. |
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Part 3 tackles a subject of increasing scholarly debate: what is the best process for developing and implementing constitutional change? Eric Lemont and Steven Haberfeld contemplate how to create a process that ensures that the people will accept the constitution as their own. While nations around the world face this question, it has particular meaning for American Indian nations that may have had little if any historical participation in the crafting of their own constitutions. Firsthand accounts by Martha Berry, Beverly Wright, Sheri Yellowhawk, and others detail the struggles for citizen participation confronted by individual American Indian nations. |
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American Indian Constitutional Reform considers universal themes of constitutional reform and places them in the unique context of American Indian nations. While the specific context may provide some difficulty for readers not schooled in the history of federal Indian policy in the United States, the book's most valuable offerings are broader and accessible even without such knowledge. Its foremost contribution is its highlighting of the experiences of a cross section of constitutional reformers from multiple American Indian nations and their struggles to create political communities and governmental institutions unique to their diverse societies. In few studies of constitutional reform can the voices of so many constitution reformers be heard so clearly. Their commentaries suggest the complex nature of constitutional reform and the great importance of cultural integrity to the creation of a viable constitution. These insights will be valuable to other constitutional advocates and reformers, comparative institutionalists, legal scholars, and North American specialists.
Kirsten Matoy Carlson
University of Michigan
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