Be honest, apologize, and give me my land back: how settler colonial states should reconcile with their indigenous peoples

Abstract

In order for a state to be legitimate vis-à-vis its citizens, those citizens must be reasonably able to, minimally, trust that it is both able and willing to create laws that are morally just. For liberal theories of legitimacy, generally speaking, just laws are laws that respect the individual rights of persons. The settler colonial states of Australia and the United States have throughout their history failed to respect the rights of indigenous peoples qua individuals. There exists, then, a large amount of evidence suggesting that it would be reasonable for those peoples to not trusting those states. And, in so far as it is reasonable for indigenous peoples of those states to not trust that their respective states are able and willing to create just laws for them, those states are illegitimate.

Given both the size, severity, and consistency of the wrongs committed against indigenous peoples by their respective settler colonial states it is not enough for those states to simply cease in their wrongdoing. The states in question must engage in a deliberate effort to generate the trust necessary for them to become legitimate. Political reconciliation, aimed at addressing the unique historical wrongs committed against indigenous peoples, can begin to generate that trust. However, political reconciliation alone will be insufficient. Given the substantial amount of evidence against the settler colonial states, we would be wrong in assuming a priori following reconciliation that they would be capable of making just laws for their respective indigenous citizens or willing to make such laws.

Moreover, reconciliation does not necessarily address the wrong of failing to respect indigenous sovereignty. In order for that wrong to be addressed, indigenous peoples must be able to collectively secede. By choosing not to secede following reconciliation, an indigenous people would signal that they do trust their settler colonial state to make just laws for them, and to that extent that it is legitimate.