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Alaska's North Slope Borough revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Gunnar Knapp  and
Thomas A. Morehouse
Gunnar Knapp
Affiliation:
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508USA
Thomas A. Morehouse
Affiliation:
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508USA
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Abstract

Alaska's North Slope Borough, established in 1972, is a unique institution of Native-controlled local government in the north. Providing a case study of Native self-determination under favourable conditions of indigenous, local control of resource wealth and political power, it has been the instrument by which local Inupiat capturedand used oil wealth, with clear economic and political benefits. They have gained high levels of local public services, jobs, and incomes; and effective representation in negotiations with external corporate and government authorities; the borough has also preserved and adapted critical elements of traditional culture. Costs of development and changeunder borough leadership have included waste and inefficiency, crime and corruption. Centralized power in borough headquarters has reduced the independence of borough villages and encouraged borough citizens to act like clients and consumers. Borough economy remains dependent on uncertain tax revenues from oil, with uncertain future employment opportunities for a rapidly growing Native population. North Slope Borough government has provided the Inupiat with means to greater political self-sufficiency, and the borough has responded effectively, under great pressure, to the opportunities and problems that petroleum development has brought to the region.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 27 , Issue 163 , October 1991 , pp. 303 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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