tribal authority
Indigenous leadership structure
Tribal authority refers to the governing power exercised by indigenous tribes over their members and territories.
In the United States, federally recognized tribes possess sovereignty that predates the Constitution, allowing them to establish governments, enforce laws, and manage internal affairs: The tribal authority banned alcohol on the reservation.
The term also appears more loosely for any leadership structure within a tribe or clan-based society.
- chiefTop-ranking leader
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- kinship tiesBonds linking relatives together
- councilAdvisory deliberative group
- talking circleStructured group dialogue format
land stewardship · treaty rights · oral tradition · clan system · indigenous law · jurisdiction · spiritual guidance · self-determination · legal autonomy · consensus-building · chieftaincy · resource allocation · elder · sacred rituals · sacred fire · medicine wheel · sweat lodge · sun dance
- tribal leaderschieftain, chief, headman, sachem, sagamore
- Tikanga Maorimana, tapu, whakapapa, whanaungatanga, tino rangatiratanga
- Alaska Native Rightsnative rights, native land rights, village councils, federal recognition, sovereignty claims
- Tribal Affairsfederal recognition, reservations, nation-to-nation, treaty violations, Cherokee Nation
- Tribal Casinosreservation casinos, gaming commission, sovereign immunity, gaming revenue, gaming license
- tribal lawindigenous law, criminal jurisdiction, reservation land, Cherokee Nation, Choctaw Nation
tribal authorityfederal government
Centralized national ruling body
federal authority · state government · national government · central government · state authority
tribal authorityconstitutional authority
Power granted by supreme law
secular authority · corporate governance · colonial administration · military rule
tribal authoritynation-state
Sovereign political territory
civil society · individualism · centralized government · industrial society
tribal, authority, tribe, tribes, tribalism, tribalist, tribalistic, tribally, intertribal