A Civic-Republican Vision of "Domestic Dependent Nations" in the Twenty-First Century: Tribal Sovereignty Re-envisioned, Reinvigorated, and Re-empowered

As a cure for what ails democracy in a pluralistic modem society, such as ours, Michael Sandel recommends "dispersing" sovereignty to a "multiplicity of [civic republican] communities-some more, some less extensive than nations." He intimates that doing this "may entail according greater cultural and political autonomy to subnational communities," which, in turn might "ease the strife that arises when state sovereignty is an all-or-nothing affair, absolute and indivisible, the only meaningful form of self determination. He sees in federalism not just a "theory of intergovernmental relations," but a "political vision" that "self-government works best when sovereignty is dispersed and citizenship formed across multiple sites of civic engagement. Although Sandel appears not to have had American Indian tribes in mind when he made these comments, his thoughts have interesting implications for tribes, whose members have retained separate cultural and political identities despite concerted efforts to assimilate them into American society.