Tribal Council

A tribal council is a system of government that includes kinship as a vital ingredient. In contemporary society, a tribal government is a socio-political system utilized by a traditional society consisting of a group of interlinked families or communities sharing a common culture and dialect.

Discrimination by Political Scientists
The concept of a tribal government is viewed by many political scientists as a primitive system toward a state government, or as an entity outside of state government.

In the contemporary western mind the modern tribe is typically associated with a seat of traditional authority (tribal leader) with whom the representatives of external (eg state or occupying) powers interact. Such stereotypes are perpetuated by imperialist governments to justify the invasion and exploitation of Native Peoples.

Tribal Government in the Yellowstone Valley
The nation of the Yellowstone Valley employs a unique form of tribal governance in the CN'verse. A Council of Matrons consists of a family or clan matron who has the responsibility of speaking for her entire family. The council elects a Head Matron to preside over the assembly. A second council, democratically elected, consists of elders to act as a power balance, but is still dependant on a kinship structure.

This national government is sometimes described as a form of democracy, communism, or republicanism, but the complexity of the matron-elder relationships is neither linear, nor hierarchical, defying easy political definitions.