ANCSA divided assets and authority between regional and village corporations, creating layered governance.
The Act established 12 regional corporations to manage subsurface rights and investment capital, while village corporations received surface land rights. This bifurcated structure was intended to balance local control with regional economic scale but introduced overlapping authorities and competing priorities.
This layered design has contributed to structural opacity, accountability diffusion, and confusion among shareholders about where decisions are made and who is responsible.