Hawaii Is a State. Can It Be a Country, Too?

For years, native Hawaiians, whose islands were once a kingdom, have fought for recognition of that distinctive history from the U.S. government. They’ve won an array of federally funded benefits for those who can claim they’re descended from the state’s aboriginal people, including housing, education, and health-care programs. Yet they’ve been repeatedly stymied in their efforts to win sovereign recognition like that of American Indian tribes on the mainland.

Now the Obama administration is considering a plan to establish “government-to-government” relations with native Hawaiians. Announced by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in June, the plan could lead to greater legal protection for programs favoring native Hawaiians and add momentum to an effort by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a state agency, to build a self-governing entity. “The department is responding to requests from the native Hawaiian community but also state and local leaders and interested parties,” Department of the Interior spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw wrote in an e-mail.