What Is Inherent Sovereignty?
Inherent sovereignty is the authority to govern yourselves that exists because your people exists, not because another government allowed it.
Inherent sovereignty is the authority of a people to govern itself that exists by original existence, not by permission. An Indigenous nation does not receive sovereignty from another government; it holds it by existing as a people. ADRIP Article III and UNDRIP Article 3 affirm the related right of self-determination.
The authority to govern oneself that exists by original existence, not by permission. Indigenous nations possess it naturally by existing as a people.
Permission versus existence
There are two ways to think about a nation’s authority. One says authority is handed down: a larger government decides who may govern and grants that power. The other says authority belongs to the people first, and institutions exist to carry it out. Inherent sovereignty is the second view. It is the foundation on which Tribal Law rests.
The Republic’s teaching places this within a larger order. Authority originates with God. Universal Rights flow from that Divine Authority and belong to every people. Governments exercise authority, and they can protect rights or fail to protect them, but they do not create them.
“Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination.”
“Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination.”
What inherent sovereignty does in practice
A principle only matters if it is exercised. A nation exercises inherent sovereignty when it:
- decides who belongs to it and keeps records of its people
- establishes a governance structure and a legal system
- maintains institutions that administer citizenship, identity and documentation
- develops ways to finance its own governance
Each of these is an act of governance, and each is affirmed in the declarations. ADRIP Article XXI and UNDRIP Article 4 speak to self-government; see ADRIP Article XXI: The Right to Self-Government.
Recognition is a relationship, not the source
Other governments may recognize an Indigenous nation, and that recognition can make it easier for their systems to work together. Recognition describes a relationship between jurisdictions. It is not where the nation’s authority comes from. That distinction is explained further in Federal Recognition Is Not the Source of Indigenous Jurisdiction.
A nation is its people
A government is judged by whether it functions as one: whether it has law, procedure, records, and decisions that can be examined. What gives a government that functionality is its people. The citizens who register, use its procedures, hold its offices and maintain its institutions are what turn inherent sovereignty from a principle into a working nation.
Learn how citizenship works
The Aboriginal Ministry of Justice administers the Republic’s citizenship procedure from screening to recognition.
Questions people ask
Is inherent sovereignty the same as federal recognition?
No. Inherent sovereignty is authority a people holds by existing. Recognition is how another government chooses to relate to that nation.
Who holds inherent sovereignty?
A people. Institutions such as a government and its ministries exercise that authority on the people’s behalf.
Which declarations affirm self-determination?
ADRIP Article III and UNDRIP Article 3 both state that Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination.
Adapted from the Entry-Level Tribal Law Course Workbook, Chapter 1. © Aboriginal Ministry of Justice. Declaration text checked word for word against the primary sources: ADRIP, AG/RES. 2888 (XLVI-O/16) and UNDRIP, A/RES/61/295. This article is general education, not legal, tax or financial advice.
