Autonomy and Identification

Indigenous Autonomy, State Authority, and National Identity in the Philippines

Project overview

2021

  1. Autonomy and Identification
    2021

    This project examines the decentralization of state-level structures for decision-making as a way to move beyond zero-sum politics. Here, Nina McMurry asks how recognition of collective self-governance rights for indigenous communities affects national unity and state consolidation. In recent decades, many states have recognized such rights, devolving de jure control over land and local governance to indigenous institutions. Prominent perspectives in the state-building literature suggest that these policies are likely to threaten state consolidation by strengthening non-state authorities at the expense of state authority and subnational identities at the expense of a national identity. Leveraging spatial and temporal variation in the granting of communal land titles to indigenous communities in the Philippines, McMurry finds that titling can increase both indigenous self-identification and compliance with the state.

Documents

2022

  1. From Recognition to Integration: Indigenous Autonomy, State Authority, and National Identity in the Philippines
    American Political Science Review, 2022