American Indian Politics and the American Political System is the most comprehensive text written from a political science perspective. It analyzes the structures and functions of indigenous governments (including Alaskan Native communities and Hawaiian Natives) and the distinctive legal and political rights these nations exercise internally. It also examines the fascinating intergovernmental relationship that exists between native nations, the states, and the federal government. In the fourth edition, Wilkins and Stark analyze the challenges facing Indigenous nations as they develop new and innovative strategies to defend and demand recognition of their national character and rights. They also seeks to address issues that continue to plague many nations, such as notions of belonging and citizenship, implementation of governing structures and processes attentive to Indigenous political and legal traditions, and the promotion and enactment of sustainable practices that support our interdependence in an increasingly globalized world.

David E. Wilkins is E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in leadership studies at University of Richmond. A citizen of the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina, Wilkins earned his PhD in political science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His academic work concentrates on Native politics and governance, with particular attention to the transformations that Indigenous governments have both coercively and voluntarily engaged in from pre-colonial times to the present. Wilkins in the author or editor of numerous books, including mostly recently Documents of Native American Political Development: 1933 to Present; Red Prophet: The Punishing Intellectualism of Vine Deloria, Jr.; American Indian Politics and the American Political System, fourth edition; Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights; The Navajo Political Experience, fourth edition; and Hollow Justice: A History of Indigenous Claims in the United States.