The Effects of Coalition Building on Public Law 93-531: The Navajo and Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974

Abstract

This dissertation presents a case study of policy formation this is intended to illuminate certain key features of the Federal-Tribal relationship. The federal law under examination is Public Law 93-531: The Navajo and Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974. The federal law represents an effort to resolve a long-standing land dispute between members of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes. Federal intervention was viewed necessary by some people/groups since the tribal governments could not come to a resolution about land possession, surface/subsurface rights, and general land usage of the dispute area. Case study research is used to frame the study, while coalition politics explores and analyzes the issues of policy formation and policy resolution.I conclude that coalition politics occurred at different levels in the policy environment, while effecting each coalition partner differently. The study provides a multi-level analysis which considers the involvement of Federal and Tribal governments.