American Indian Culture and Research Journal

INTRODUCTION In the following essays we focus on the ways in which contemporary governments currently operate among several American Indian tribes. All of the inquiries are born of relatively long-term contacts with the tribes-contacts that began in the 1960s or 70s and have continued to the present. Immediately prior to our first-hand contact with these tribes, they had experienced about a decade in which Federal policies sought to terminate them from trust status and Federal obligations. Some of us began our studies as Johnson Administration policies began to alleviate Indian fears about imminent termination. Policies set in motion by the Nixon Administration offered new meaning to "self-determination" among Indian tribes. We observed, even participated in, some of the Indian responses to self-determination programs. They were short-lived, but very influential during their effective lives. With the advent of Reagan's "New Federalism" we have observed the empirical consequences to Federal programs enabled by self-determination legislation when Federal funds are withdrawn. We assess the consequences of policy decisions on the several tribes that we have come to know through research and assistance over the past ten to twenty years.