Editing Tribe (section)

== Present-day ==
{{Seealso|Pashtun tribes|Kurdish tribes|Albanian tribes|Tribes of Yemen|Arab tribes of Algeria|India tribal belt|List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States|Iwi}}
[[File:Isolierte-Völker.png|thumb|300px|A map of [[uncontacted tribes]], around the start of the 21st century]]
Few tribes today remain isolated from the development of the modern state system. Tribes have lost their legitimacy to conduct traditional functions, such as [[tithing]], delivering [[justice]] and defending territory, with these being replaced by states functions and institutions, such as taxation, law courts and the military. Most have suffered decline and loss of cultural identity. Some have adapted to the new political context and transformed their culture and practices in order to survive, whilst others have secured legal rights and protections.

Fried proposed that most surviving tribes do not have their origin in pre-state tribes, but rather in pre-state bands. Such "secondary" tribes, he suggested, developed as modern products of state expansion. Bands comprise small, mobile, and fluid social formations with weak [[leadership]]. They do not generate surpluses, pay no taxes, and support no standing army.  Fried argued that secondary tribes develop in one of two ways. First, states could set them up as means to extend administrative and economic influence in their hinterland, where direct political control costs too much. States would encourage (or require) people on their frontiers to form more clearly bounded and centralized polities, because such polities could begin producing surpluses and taxes, and would have a leadership responsive to the needs of neighboring states (the so-called tribes of the United States or British India provide good examples of this). The British favored the label "aboriginal tribe" for some communities.

[[File:Afghan men of the Alizay Kulay village in Kandahar Province.jpg|thumb|[[Pashtuns]] in Afghanistan and Pakistan form the world's largest [[Pashtun tribes|tribal society]], comprising over 60 million people and between 350 and 400 tribes and clans.]]
India adopted a republican constitution in 1950, after three years of debate in its Constituent Assembly. During the debate, Jaipal Singh, a member of [[Munda people|Munda tribe]] from Central India advocated for special provisions for the '[[Adivasi|Adibasi]]' -- a translation into Hindi of 'aboriginal'. His arguments proved persuasive. These communities were to have seats in the legislatures and positions in government employment 'reserved' for them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |title=India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. |url=https://archive.org/details/indiaaftergandhi00guha/page/126/mode/2up|publisher=Harper Collins |year=2008 |isbn=9780060958589 |edition=paperback |location=New York |pages=126–128}}</ref> Each of the assembly members prepared a list of communities that deserved special protections. These names were listed in a "Schedule" (appendix) to the Constitution. So these came to be called the 'Scheduled Tribes', often abbreviated to ST.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Choudhry |first=Sujit |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780198704898 |location=New York |pages=720–724}}</ref>

Second, bands could form "secondary" tribes as a means to defend against state expansion. Members of bands would form more clearly bounded and centralized polities, because such polities could begin producing surpluses that could support a standing army that could fight against states, and they would have a leadership that could co-ordinate economic production and military activities.

In the [[Tribe (Native American)|Native American tribes]] of North America, tribes are considered [[sovereign nation]]s, that have retained their sovereignty or been granted legal recognition by the federal government.<ref name=JusticeGov/><ref name=TribalSov>Robert J. McCarthy, The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Trust Obligation to American Indians, 19 BYU J. PUB. L. 1 (December, 2004)</ref>

[[Yemen]] is notable as the most tribal nation in the [[Arab world]], largely due to the significant influence of tribal leaders and their deep integration into various aspects of the state.<ref>J. E. Peterson, Tribes and Politics in Yemen p.1</ref> Estimates vary, with approximately 200 tribes in Yemen, although some reports list more than 400.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zaydi Islam |url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-zaydi.htm |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=www.globalsecurity.org}}</ref><ref>[https://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/556da5f4-a5f6-4551-9edc-a8fb099dbbf4 الجزيرة نت] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319005058/http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/556da5f4-a5f6-4551-9edc-a8fb099dbbf4|date=19 March 2014}}</ref>