Crazy Horse and his band of Indians on their way from Camp Sheridan to surrender at Red Cloud Agency, a sketch attributed to "Mr. Hottes." Image from Library of Congress
Retired professor Peter d'Errico wonders whether politicians have learned anything from failed attempts at colonization in Indian Country and in other places around the world:
Neocon candidates try to outdo one another with demands for military force wherever they perceive it will appeal to voter fears, whether Iran or Iraq, Afghanistan or Russia, Syria or Libya. Ignorance of the histories of these countries doesn't get in the way of—even encourages—their calls for intervention. But, as [British Major-General Jonathan\ Shaw said, "Unless and until we understand the conflict we are looking at, we would be well advised to follow the Hippocratic oath to 'do no harm'." Shaw added, "Liberal democracy is a rare flower…the form of which differs even in its heartland of western Europe/America." He criticized the "neocon belief that [liberal democracy] is the natural condition for society." Shaw looked at the history of western "state" government. He said, "We have lost sight of how the very concept of the 'state' is a western construct, enshrined in the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 to bring to an end the 30 years war in Europe." Though Shaw did not discuss American Indian history, his recap of the history of 'state' systems illuminates the difficulties of using the notion of 'sovereignty' to describe American Indian self-determination. The notion of 'sovereignty' derives from the Westphalian idea of government as a top-down, unitary 'state' structure. Indian Nations never followed that model. The "state" model of government may have solved problems among warring Christian European nations, but that form has also been used to undermine traditional Indigenous governments and impose neo-colonial governments on non-state peoples. The American 'state' deployed military and economic coercion to force Indians within the 'reservation' system, subject to over-arching 'state' sovereignty.Get the Story:
Peter d'Errico: Lessons of History: States, Peoples, Soil (Indian Country Today 1/4)
Join the Conversation
