Enhancing Rural Leadership and Institutions: What Can We Learn from American Indian Nations?

Since the 1970s, a small but significant number of American Indian nations have put together some of the most impressive stories of economic development in the United States. What insights do these stories have to offer for rural economic development generally? This article analyzes recent Indian reservation experience, concluding that local control, strategic thinking, effective governing institutions, and leadership all have played key roles in reservation development success. It considers implications of these findings for leadership and institutions in rural America.