Okay -- the government of the United Federation of Planets, including (and not limited to):
The Federation Council -- how are council members elected? One per world? Is the Federation President a member of the Council chosen to lead, or is he elected? (In some strange Parlimentary system crossover with the U.S.'s form of Democracy).
Is there only the Council? Is there perhaps a Federation Senate as well?
What the *hell* is the Federation? Communist? Socialist? Democratic? Some strange mix of the three?
Now, I'm not going to lie ... my "YEAR TWO" of Star Trek Gamma Quadrant will begin with an indepth 3-part episode look at the inner working of the Federation (don't you just *love* evil Senators?), so ... well, give it your best! Debate debate debate away!!!
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Continuing to boldly go ...
[This message has been edited by JeffKardde (edited November 15, 2000).]
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***...***...***
"Humans don't NEED money. We work to better ourselves."
"Yes, what does that mean, exactly?"
"It... it means we don't need money, that's what!"
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"You know, you--you let a wolf save your life, they make you pay and pay and pay..."
- Fraser, "due South"
It seems that Starfleet is an amalgamation of today's NASA, the Armed Forces, Red Cross, and perhaps policemen. There wouldn't be a government of Starfleet so much as there'd be Chiefs of staff and all that.
The UFP seems to be a bastard child of communism, or intense socialism, or flying pancake trotskyism.
Well, let's make a list of things known about the government of the UFP:
- Requires a unified planetary government to join
- Caste-based discrimination is a no-go
- Governed by Federation Council, which is composed of 'representatives' of the member planets.
- Council is led by the Federation President.
- The economic structure made "very little use" of money
So, it's like a non-capitalism based republic, that is, providing the president is elected.
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Communism. Who wouldn't like their neighbour thrown into a goulag?
Please vote for the Communist Party of Canada This November 27th.
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What did it mean to you
An early chat with death
To pull your body for a moment from your soul
--
Camper Van Beethoven
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Gonna donate half my money to the city.
The Federation Council collectively holds most of the same powers as the US President... ie, comm. in chief of armed forces/Starfleet, ability to make executive decisions now and then, veto power over legislation. It appears to be an outgrowth of some sort of General Assembly Plenary, with each planet sending one member (not elected-- as per the T'Pau refusing seat line) who then elect a chairman of the council, the President, from among themselves (as per Jaresh-Inyo not really sounding like someone who made it his dream to fight a huge election to be President.) In cases where the council needs to be represented by one man, the President fills that role, but normally he's more a ceremonial figurehead (like presidents of Ireland or Germany), with the real so-called "presidential" power resting in the council.
The legislative body I'm guessing to be a Federation Parliament (just cuz Parliaments are so much cooler than Congresses) which I'll imagine to be partisan and popularly elected and presumably have somewhere in the number of 2000 MPs or so. The biggest party or coalition of parties is invited by the council to form a government, which creates a cabinet lead by a Prime Minister. This cabinet is the true executive branch with ministries for this and that and the other, and it also serves as a liason to the Council.
The Parliament presumably drafts all the laws that are in place on the Federation worlds that would bore the Trek audience to tears. The Council, because Starfleet is generally more tied-into it, gets more attention on the show but is almost certainly not the be-all-and-end-all of Federation democracy...
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"...I was just up in Canada, Toronto actually. You know, they really hate you guys [Americans] up there? The funny thing is, they think you hate them back, when in fact, you just couldn't be bothered to care. Now in Ireland, it's a different story. At least we had the common decency to wait until the English invaded before we started hating them. I guess the Canadians are hating you in advance..."
-Irish Comic Ed Byrne on Canada-US relations
1.) There is a Council. I would disagree with Tom and say that the Council is much more of a legislative body than an executive one, but its exact duties have never been spelled out.
2.) Planets wishing to join should have unified governments of some sort. This doesn't appear to be a hard and fast rule, because they were at least willing to consider Kes/Prit or whatever it was called. Presumably, a world has to have some sort of institution or policy in place to deal with international conflicts other than war.
3.) There's a constitution. Among other things, it contains at least seven "Guarantees", equivalent to the U.S. Bill of Rights. The seventh is the right against self-incrimination. Interestingly enough, according to the Encyclopedia, these rights extend to any sentient within the UFP or on a Federation vessel.
4.) There's a president. Whether the office is equivalent to a U.S. president or a prime minister or the president of the Senate (also U.S.) isn't really clear.
5.) The laws of the UFP form the Federation Code of Justice, which contains such things as "innocent till proven guilty" and so on.
6.) The UFP has grand juries and a Supreme Court.
Considering the political climate Star Trek writers have all been brought up in (namely, the American one), it would seem the UFP maps pretty closely to your average western democracy, mixing parliamentary and, uh...congressional(?) forms.
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What did it mean to you
An early chat with death
To pull your body for a moment from your soul
--
Camper Van Beethoven
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Gonna donate half my money to the city.
Possibly the Federation is something like what the European Union wants to be.
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"Dynamics is like playing hockey with a flexible hockey stick"
-My Physics teacher
---
Titan Fleet Yards - Harry Doddema's Star Trek Site
I'd say he's a bit more than just a figurehead. He'd have to have quite a bit of executive authority to do those things.
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Remember December '59
The howling wind and the driving rain,
Remember the gallant men who drowned
On the lifeboat, Mona was her name.
A Council President, who can presumably speak for the Council ...
And an elected President, who apparently has enough authority to act without the council in certain instances.
The Council President could act as a sort of VP.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Continuing to boldly go ...
Okay, the Federation Council elects one council member to represent each member world and that member world's holdings ... i.e., colonies, etcetra.
Now, the Federation Senate elects one senator from each member world, colony, etcetra (say, any planetary holding with more than, say, 500,000 residents)
So, you'd have a Federation Council with 150 members, representing each Federation Member World.
But, then you'd have the Federation Senate, with 150 + X (X being the number of Colonies, etcetra) members, representing each Member World, Colony, etcetra, etcetra.
This would also allow for the checks and balances system to work ...
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Continuing to boldly go ...
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takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory
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What did it mean to you
An early chat with death
To pull your body for a moment from your soul
--
Camper Van Beethoven
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Gonna donate half my money to the city.
Is a Bureau perhaps like a Department (US) or Ministry (GB)? "Gambit" script spoke of Vulcan Ministry of Security, and used the title of Minister, although I'm not sure if this was in the aired version. How would a UFP Bureau of Security interact with the Vulcan Ministry of Security? Would there be a chain of command, a set of common rules, or a competitive stance between the two?
Would these bureaux or ministries be executive organs like in most countries, or possibly legislative ones as (in practice) in the EU organization? Would they be elected democratically (something that almost never applies to real-world ministries or departments, but might be part of a happy Federation system) or chosen meritocratically or otherwise? They might in fact play a crucial role in the way the UFP is governed.
Timo Saloniemi
I'd imagine there's also a civilian intelligence agency as well ... (CIA & NSA are a mix of military & civilian)
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Continuing to boldly go ...
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And keep your foot off that blasted samoflanche!
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Continuing to boldly go ...
I've got a character named Senator France. He's actually important in the 2-part ep which ends the first season, but ...
He's sort of a bad guy -- in that his politics tend to be ... well, here's the problem.
I don't know what his politics tend to be. It would be too easy to say that he's against rebuilding Cardassia, so I need an issue for him to focus on(hopefully one that will jive with my characters and readers) ...
Any idea? This guy is going to be recurring throughout "ST-GC" ...
Thanks,
Jeff
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Rated 7 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
Or he is trying to create the Holy Roman Empire of the stars....
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**...****...**
One of his harping points could be that exploration is just as dangerous as a war, that so many starships have been lost & gone missing--have him read off some names like "the Blackheart, disappeared in Sector 29103...the Vatnaj�kull, lost without a trace 20 LY past the coreward rim.." etc.--& the Federation is so large already, there's no need for exploartion anymore. Focus on internal problems & makes it a better Federation after the war.
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"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much."
I've already established him to have a son, a prissy little LtCmdr who works at HQ and is hated by most of his peers b/c his success has been political, and he's always degraded officers who serve "in the field" (in this case, on starships or with Marine units).
I can't wait to start scripting the 3-parter out ...
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Rated 7 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
I believe that the representatives to the Federation Council are selected by the Member governments, and the manner of choice is left to the individual Members.
Now, then:
If we are going to think about what the Federation government is like, we need to focus first on what it was designed to do.
As the Federation was established by representatives working on trade agreements, it seems logical that the Federation was designed to promote trade between members.
As Starfleet was created within a year of the Federation, and provided for in the Constitution, presenting a unified military was another aim. As this took place close on the heels of the Earth-Romulan War, Mutual Defense against outside threat seems to have been the main trust of this goal.
Much has been made over the Federation allowing its Members to retain soverignty, and of respecting their culture. So, this too seems to be a vital aim of the Federation, probably supported in the Constitution.
Promotion of basic 'human' rights. From the "Seventh Guarantee" against self-incrimination to the proviso that no Member may have a caste system, the Federation seems to place a high priority on 'human' rights, and probably has mechanisms in place to enforce them among the Members.
As I sought to make a Federation Charter for myself, I examined 4 documents that I felt would be similar in inmportant respects:
The Articles of Confederation (of the United States of America)
The Constitution of the United States of America
The United Nations Charter
The Charter of the European Union
I will discuss each of these, in turn:
The Articles of Confederation:
These articles were laid out with the intent of banding a group of states together to promote the common defense (against an outside threat) and to promote trade between the members for their mutual benefit. It is also a remarkably succinct document, being less than 1 page including a specific provision stating that Canada may join simply by ratifying the Articles and NOT subject to approval by "the United States, in Congress, Assembled" aka Congress.
On the downside, the Articles provided the central government with no method to enforce its powers upon the members, and so it needed to be replaced with a document that provided a stronger Federal Government.
The Constitution of the United States of America:
This document was created with the intent to "create a more perfect union" among its members. The previous Union having been judged too 'imperfect' due to its inabilty to force compliance from the members, a stronger Federal government was created to enforce the will of the people and members, as represented by the Congress, in the matters of trade (both internal and external), defense, and protecting rights.
On the downside, this sometimes wordy document provides a central governmnet far stronger than I, at least, envision the Federation having. It requires that the members surrender a great deal of their soverignty.
As a side note, the bicamereral nature of the Congress was created as a compromise to settle a major dispute. Large, populous states felt it was unfair that small, unpopulous states got an equal say in how taxes were spent, especially since taxes were based in part on population. Conversely, small unpopulous states feared large power-blocks formed of populous states could effectively sieze control over the government. To appease both sides, two legislative bodies must both pass new legislation, one where representation is based upon population, another where it is based on membership. This debate has been settled in different ways in other bodies, and I'm not sure how applicable it is to the Federation.
The United Nations Charter.
The biggest problem with the UN Charter is that it was designed to prevent warfare AMONG ITS MEMBERS. This does not appear to have been a big concern for the Federation at the time of its founding. Further, the UN hardly considers the possability of attack from outside: I'm not sure how the UN would react to invasion from space, but it sure doesn't have a unified, integrated military to send to such a conflict. The UN relies on contributions from its members for most everything it does, and participation is entirely voluntary.
However, the UN does support human rights, does provide a forum for the peaceful settlement of dispute, and even has provisions that allow its members to establish colonies.
The European Union Charter:
Having grown from trade agreements and blossomed into a government that provides certain basic minimums to all citizens, allows free movement across internal borders, and even provides for a unified military, while maintaining a high respect for the culture and soverignty of each member, this might seem like the perfect model for the Federation Charter.
However, as it builds off many trade agreements, it is not a stand-alone document, and can be difficult to understand at times. Further, like the UN, it is highly concerned with preventing warfare _among_its_members_.
If anyone can point me to other documents they deem worthy of consideration, available online, I'm happy to look.
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You're a Starfleet Officer. "Weird" is part of the job.
When Bashir and O'Brien were rooting around that Sec. 31 guy's head, they realized that Section 31 had a man on Jaresh Inyo's cabinet ...
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Rated 7 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
He could just as easily have been on Jaresh Inyo's dressing table or fitted kitchen presses, but Section 31 put him in the cabinet...very mysterious.
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Remember December '59
The howling wind and the driving rain,
Remember the gallant men who drowned
On the lifeboat, Mona was her name.
I don't how parlimentary systems do it, but here in the US, the President's advisors are his cabinet.
Sec Defense ... Sec Treasury, etc.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Rated 7 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
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Hunt: "You cheated!"
Rhade: "It's only cheating if you get caught."
-Andromeda, "Double Helix"
An Admiral who wanted to use advanced Federation starship technology (A Dreadnought Class, specifically) to take over and "enforce peace on" the rest of the known galaxy was featured in the TOS book "Dreadnought!" by Diane Carey.
Other arenas...
Maybe he's against "species mixing" (like that which gave us Spock and B'Elanna, etc).
Maybe he's a Fundie Kook who sees the gathering of powers in the Alliance against the Dominion as a prelude to the Apocalypse... which he desires to help bring about. (Borg as Satan's forces?)
Maybe he's one of those people who figures that now that the Dominion War is over and the major races are aligned, that Starfleet and the Federation should disarm completely. (Phasers don't kill Aliens, Aliens kill Aliens!)
Although one would have to wonder how such people could get elected by 'enlightened' Federation citizens in the first place.
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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master
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Well, it's done, yes, the deed is done.
I like that last idea of yours -- about disarming. Mix that in with what Shikishima suggested, and out comes a rather nasty badguy ... his real threat is that he actually BELIEVES in what he's doing, so its almost more dispicable. He doesn't have plans for a military coup to set himself up as Dictator, but his "vision" of the future could bring the Federation to its knees ...
He'll be supported by the billions of people who lost friends and relatives and family members in the war -- those who he can appeal to that Starfleet not only did nothing to prevent it, but in fact began the war by being aggresive in the first place (in other words: going in the wormhole when they were expressly told NOT to). I think France will also appeal to the youth ... Capt. Macy's son is in college, and using this tact can create some nice tension between the two
Senator France's opponent is "current" President Molgarva (Jaro Inyesh's successor), who'll be in the finale 2-parter of "ST-GC" ... Molgarva's an ex-Starfleet officer, and France can play against that to get sympathy.
Also, this could play our sympathies for the Bajorans, who we've followed for seven years in "Deep Space Nine" ... perhaps, with their membership coming up for review shortly AFTER the election, it becomes a race: if Molgarva wins, the Bajorans have a good chance of being finally accepted into the UFP -- but if France wins, the new President will use his influence to reject the membership application ...
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 7.5 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
Shop Smart -- Shop "S"-Mart
[This message has been edited by JeffKardde (edited December 05, 2000).]
We've seen the sentencing portion of a trial, and some sort of fact finding hearing. That's it.
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I have been floated to this spot this hour
On a series of events
I cannot explain
--
Olivia Tremor Control
****
Read chapters one and two of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Read, read, read, read, read me now.
I doubt there were separate "Council Member" and "Spectator" boxes in the chambers. There were high-ranking officers and lowly noncoms distributed quite evenly across the benches, between civilian-clad humans and aliens. I'd think many Starfleeters would be interested in being spectators in the trial, while those other people present may either have had a beef with Kirk, may have bene worried about Klingon reaction, or may simply have wanted to monitor the legal aspects of the process.
The actual decisionmaking probably took place somewhere else entirely, since the only person in the chambers who actually *knew* the verdict and sentence seemed to be "Mr President". Everybody else was quite surprised.
Timo Saloniemi
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20th century, go to sleep.
--
R.E.M.
****
Read chapters one and two of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Show no patience, tolerance, or restraint.
Perhaps "Federation President" should be read like "Klingon Guard"? That is, the guy is a guard who is a Klingon, instead of guarding Klingons; similarly, the other guy is the President of the Committee for Determining Appropriate Punishment for Renegade Heroes, and just happens to be a Fed by citizenship. :-P
Timo Saloniemi
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"Content, graphics, and design are © 1999-2000 by The Solareclipse Network"
-And no-one even noticed the typo...
---
Titan Fleet Yards - Harry Doddema's Star Trek Site
In a perfect communism, every member can express his/her opinions, and ultimately, participate in the decision making process
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If a diamond is a woman's best friend, why does a man has to settle for a dog?
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20th century, go to sleep.
--
R.E.M.
****
Read chapters one and two of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Show no patience, tolerance, or restraint.
Top Level - Federation President & Council.
The President is voted in by the council, which is made up of representatives from colonies, member worlds and other interest groups.
The President is voted in by the council, which is made up of representatives from colonies, member worlds and other interest groups.
The council has power over Federation wide decisions and makes and implements policy based upon requirement.
Second Strata: Planetary Governments.
As said by the holodoctor the Federation is an alliance of planets that works together in all respects for their mutual benefit. Therefore it is logical to conclude that each planet has it's own government and ambassadors from those planets are part of the Federation Council.
Each planet must adhere to certain humanitarian, rules etc but apart from that it can run it's culture along it's own lines. This also goes for colonies.
Here's where it gets interesting. Do the colonies of any given race get council representation seats or are they spoken for by the homeworld?
For example, if earth has 50 colonies do they come under the jurisdiction of Earth, not the Fed council? In addition to this, if a group of 3 billion humans moved to a new planet that does not necessarily mean that planet would automatically become a member state of the Federation (if they succeeded from the earthgov). They would have to pass the required tests to join and get their own seats on the council and their own government recognized. (A theory).
Starfleet comes in as the military force of the Federation, though each planet is responsible for internal security, and their own ground forces.(Or so it may be, we just don't know). Each planet must also contribute to starfleet with technology, resources, manpower etc etc. (As ground troops, or anything else). For my take the parts of starfleet we have seen are those run by humans. We know that there are entire sections of starfleet that don't have humans. Mixed race ships etc aren't necessarily the norm.
Third Strata: Regional Planetary Governments and Colonies are run via the system of the homeworld, whatever that may be
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Re: Russia in WWII
"Hey, we butchered Poles! Thats OK."
- DT.