NNI Radio: Native Nation Building Series

Building effective governments, developing strong economies that fit a variety of cultures and circumstances, solving difficult social problems, and balancing cultural integrity and change – these are just a few of the challenges facing contemporary Native Nations across the United States and Canada.

These nation-building challenges are the focus of the Native Nation Building Series from the Native Nations Institute Radio (NNI Radio), an initiative of the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy (NNI) at the University of Arizona.

Download all of the programs by clicking on the links below or sign up for the podcast and get all the past programs in the Native Nation Building Series as well as the future programs when they become available.

Download the Native Nation Building Series

Forum on Tribal Sovereign Immunity
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Introduction to Nation Building
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Constitutions & Constitutional Reform
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Why the Rule of Law & Tribal Justice Systems Matter
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Intergovernmental & Intertribal Relations
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Building & Sustaining Tribal Enterprises
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Promoting Tribal Citizen Entrepreneurs
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Capable Bureaucracy: The Key to Good Government
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Tribal Service Delivery: Meeting Citizens' Needs
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Strategy & Leadership: Path to Self-Determination
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Moving Towards Nation Building
(Download MP3) (Read Description)

Introduction to Nation Building (Download MP3): Chronicles the ongoing research of NNI as well as the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. It articulates the five keys to successful community and economic development for Native nations -- sovereignty (genuine self-rule), effective institutions of self-governance, cultural match, strategic orientation, and leadership.

Host: Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache)
Guests: Dr. Manley Begay, Jr., (Navajo) Director, Native Nations Institute and Senior Lecturer in the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona
Stephen Cornell, Director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and Professor of Sociology and of Public
Administration and Policy at the University of Arizona

Constitutions and Constitutional Reform (Download MP3): Explores the evidence that strong Native nations require strong foundations, which necessarily require the development of effective, internally created constitutions. It examines the impacts a constitution has on the people it represents, successful reform processes among Native nations, and common features of constitutional reform efforts.

Host: Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache).
Guests: Sophie Pierre (Ktunaxa First Nation), Past Co-Chair of the First Nations Summit and Ktunaxa Chief
Joseph P. Kalt, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy and Co-Director for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development

Why the Rule of Law and Tribal Justice Systems Matter (Download MP3): Discusses the importance of having sound rules of law and justice systems and examines their implications for effective governance and sustainable economic development. It focuses on these issues and their role in the creation of a productive environment that encourages investment of all types from Native and non-Native citizens.

Host: Mark St. Pierre
Guests: Robert Williams (Lumbee), Professor of Law and American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona
Chief Justice Robert Yazzie (Navajo)

Intergovernmental and Intertribal Relations (Download MP3): Focuses on Native nations' efforts to enhance their relationships with other governments as a way to advance their nation-building objectives. It details how some Native nations are forging mutually beneficial intergovernmental agreements, and chronicles the many advantages to forging similar intertribal arrangements.

Host: Mark St. Pierre
Guests: Jaime Pinkham (Nez Perce), Treasurer, Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee
Sarah Hicks (Alutiiq), Research Associate and Program Coordinator at the George Warren Brown (GWB) School of Social Work

Building and Sustaining Tribal Enterprises (Download MP3): Explores corporate governance among Native nations, in particular the added challenge they face in turning a profit as well as governing effectively. It focuses on how tribes establish a regulatory and oversight environment that allows nation enterprises to flourish, particularly through the separation of day-to-day business operations from politics.

Host: Mark St. Pierre
Guests: Lance Morgan (Winnebago), President and Chief Executive Officer, Ho Chunk, Inc.
Kenneth Grant, Senior Policy Scholar, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy

Promoting Tribal Citizen Entrepreneurs (Download MP3): Examines the pivotal role that citizen entrepreneurs can play in a Native nation's overarching effort to achieve sustainable community and economic development. It looks at the many different ways that Native nation governments actively and passively hinder citizen entrepreneurship, and the innovative approaches some Native nations are taking.

Host: Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache)
Guests: Elsie Meeks (Oglala Lakota), Executive Director, First Nations Oweesta Corporation
Joan Timeche (Hopi), Assistant Director, Native Nations Institute

A Capable Bureaucracy: The Key to Good Government (Download MP3): Explains that good governance requires effective, transparent and accountable bureaucracies. It demonstrates how clearly defined organizational structures and roles and responsibilities help make things work and get things done, and how their absence actively hinders Native nation governance and development efforts.

Host: Mark St. Pierre
Guests: Urban Giff (Gila River), Community Manager Urban, The Gila River Indian Community
Joan Timeche (Hopi), Assistant Director, Native Nations Institute

Tribal Service Delivery: Meeting Citizens' Needs (Download MP3): Discusses the issue of Native nations' administration of service delivery in Native communities. It examines the unproductive ways services and programs have been administered in many Native communities in the past and the innovative mechanisms and approaches some Native nations are developing to maximize limited financial and human resources.

Host: Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache)
Guests: Karen Diver (Fond du Lac Chippewa), Treasurer, Division Director Representative, Fond du Lac Chippewa
Eddie Brown (Pascua Yaqui/Tohono O'odham), Director, George Warren Brown (GWB) School of Social Work

Strategy and Leadership: The Path to Self-Determination (Download MP3): Ties together the themes discussed in the previous segments into a discussion of how Native nations and their leaders move themselves and their peoples towards nation building. It seeks to answer the question all Native nations have: How do we get where we want to go?

Host: Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache)
Guests: Peterson Zah (Navajo), former President of the Navajo Nation
Chief Justice Angela Russell (Crow)

Moving Towards Nation Building (Download MP3): Contrasts the two approaches to indigenous governance -- the standard approach and the nation-building approach -- and discusses how a growing number of Native nations are moving towards nation building. It provides specific examples of how the keys to nation-building bring wide-ranging benefits to Native communities.

Host: Mark St. Pierre
Guests: Dr. Manley Begay, Jr., (Navajo) Director, Native Nations Institute and Senior Lecturer in the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona
Stephen Cornell, Director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and Professor of Sociology and of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Arizona

Forum on Tribal Sovereign Immunity (Download MP3): Tribal sovereign immunity has far-reaching implications, impacting a wide range of critical governance issues from the protection and exertion of legal jurisdiction to the creation of a business environment that can stimulate and sustain economic development.

Recently, Native Nations Institute (NNI) Radio convened a group of tribal leaders and Indian law experts to discuss tribal sovereign immunity and the need for Native nations to approach the issue strategically. Moderated by Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Co-Director Joseph P. Kalt, the forum provides tribal leaders and their constituents some important food for thought as they seek to protect their nations' interests and advance their nation-building priorities.

Producer: Ian Record, Curriculum Development Manager, NNI
Associate Producer: Jay Stauss, Professor, UA American Indian Studies