TRIBAL LEADERSHIP IN THE WAR ON POVERTY: A CASE STUDY.

This article focuses on the need of tribal leadership in the programs for eradication of poverty in the U.S. The article also argues that such behavior was not at all inconsistent with the conditions of "pre-program" reservation leadership or the formal requirements of the leaders' participation in the programs, and that therefore such behavior could have been predicted. Specifically, the leadership behavior is placed within a context of three interrelated causal factors. The first is the persistence of a heritage of authority struggles at two levels: between the council as a unit and the non-tribal administration; and among individual council members themselves. The second is the persistence of a tendency for several formal leadership statuses simultaneously to be vested in a single individual. The third factor is `the dual nature of the leaders' involvement in the development effort. They were at once program administrators, ideally impartial, and recipients of lucrative program benefits. Given `the presence of these factors, it is argued, the leaders' behavior can be viewed as a rational effort to maximize the political and material potential of the programs for their personal satisfaction.