Between Consenting Peoples

By examining how consent serves as the foundation for political community, especially in relations between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples, this book seeks to draw perspectives from indigenous relations into the heart of political theory.

This book examines how consent might be understood as the foundation of legal and political community, especially in relations between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples.

Consent has long been used to establish the legitimacy of society. But when one asks – who consented? how? to what type of community? – consent becomes very elusive, more myth than reality. This is particularly true when focusing on the relationship between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples.

In Between Consenting Peoples, leading scholars in legal and political theory look at the various meanings that have been attached to consent as the foundation for political community and law, especially in indigenous contexts. From historical examples to political and legal theory, the authors examine the language of consent and how consent has ordered indigenous societies and shaped their relationships with governments. They also explore the kind of consent – the kind of attachment – that might ground political community and establish a fair relationship between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples. In doing so, they draw perspectives from indigenous relations into the heart of political theory.