tribal council
Indigenous governing body
A tribal council is the governing body of an indigenous tribe or nation, typically composed of elected or appointed representatives who make decisions on behalf of the community.
In the United States, tribal councils manage reservations, administer services, and exercise sovereignty over tribal affairs.
The term also refers to ceremonial gatherings where a tribe's council of elders meets to deliberate: The chief called a tribal council to discuss the treaty.
- chiefTop-ranking leader
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- consensusGeneral group agreement
- federal recognitionGovernment's formal tribal acknowledgment
- treaty rightsPact-secured legal entitlements
tradition · elder · quorum · clan · restorative justice · deliberation · self-determination · heritage · lawmaking · assembly · reservation · jurisdiction · arbitration · vote · ancestral lands · mediation · ceremony · sacred fire
- tribal cultureclan mother, common ancestry, clan loyalty, kinship ties, headman
- tribal leadershipchief, elder, patriarch, matriarch, chieftain
- Village Governmentvillage elder, headman, chief, mayor, clerk
- elder councilsclan leaders, elders
- Alaska NativesAleut, Unangan, Athabaskan, Athabascan, Haida
- Flathead ReservationSalish, tribal government, tribal lands, reservation land, Ronan
tribal councilfederal government
Centralized national ruling body
national parliament · parliament · nation-state · centralized government · United Nations
tribal councilparliament
National legislative assembly
legislature · technocracy · democratic republic · corporate board · military junta