Developing nation models for American Indian nation building—Educating the young leaders of our internal developing nations

Abstract

American Indian Nations share many common issues with nations in the non-Western world which are developing contemporary economic and political systems after a period of colonialization by Western European countries. Native American students can gain greater understanding of the historical process of nation building in which they are engaged and insight into strategies for integrating the contemporary economics and technology with traditional values and practices from the experiences of some of these non-Western nations. College level courses on American Indian government should utilize nation building examples from the non-Western world in addition to examples from contemporary native nations in North America to broaden students' understanding of tribal government development as part of the process of national regeneration being undertaken by formerly colonized peoples throughout the world.