posted
Something that I recall someone (somewhere, maybe not at Flare) pointing out is that in the 650+ hours of Star Trek out there, I don't think that the word "democracy" has been mentioned once in reference to the Federation system of government.
The closest I can recall is President Jaresh-Inyo commenting on his selection for the post... but the context of that conversation seemed to imply that he was chosen by a small number of people -- the Federation Council, for example.
And it's not that unusual an idea. After all, the UN Secretary General is chosen by the Security Council, rather than holding world-wide elections. Perhaps, considering the relative disparity of cultures in the early years (even in ENT's universe rather than some speculative fandom history) there would not be enough commonality on the "grassroots" level to make universal population-level presidential elections a practical matter.
'Course, the same could be said of the US elections in 1800. Any History student could tell you how that turned out...
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posted
Well, the analogy to the 1800 election is because of the serious disorganization at the time. After the popular elections, all of the various states had different times to hold the meetings of their electoral college voters, and so the final votes were trickling in over a month or more. Then, after that, the electoral votes were inconclusive -- the famous electoral tie between Jefferson and Burr, which had to be broken by the House of Representatives... which did so only after 40+ deadlocks.
The election of 2000 was nothing more than bureaucratic confusion by comparison, IMO.
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posted
I was actually referring to the leader being chosen by an unelected body, but that doesn't flow from your last sentence and it was a tired joke, anyway. So ignore me.
posted
Janeway said something about her ship not being a democracy at one stage - yes I know - not exactly the structure of the Federation - but just a mention of 'democracy'!
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posted
Well there may have not been any mention of democracy but in Insurrection Ru'afo does a his screed before killing Dougherty hew mention that public opnion changeing the mind of the Council, so presumbly their elected, cos there is nothing like the threat of not bieng reclected to change a politicans mind.
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posted
Well, technically the term 'democratic' means something like 'equality for the people' which seems to be the philosophy of the Federation as it is, being that hunger, poverty, the need to acquire wealth and whatnot has been for the most part abolished (at least on Earth and other higher echelon worlds in the Federation). So maybe the use of 'democratic' is moreso social than policital considering that Pres. Jaresh Inyo did say he was nominated(?) for his position despite not seeking it....
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posted
and possibly, Kor was also speaking of the Klingon Empire's move towards equal rule as the class system that made Kor a noble and Martok a commoner became obsolete. Kor could have been taling to Worf not as a representative of the Federation, but as a Klingon who was familiar with the changing face of Klingon social heirarchy
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posted
The Federation may be a semidemocratic republic. Clearly, it is a republic in that the members of the Council act as representatives for their people's ostensible interests. However, if the Federation doesn't really care about local governments, maybe each planet is free to do what they want. So, some planets are democracies (direct or representative). Some are monarchies, some are oligarchies, some are theocracies, anarchies, social anarchies, plutocracies, meritocracies, etc. I would expect the only truly "forbidden" government in the Federation is any that acts against its people. Pretty much like the UN, only with huevos and a side of chutzpah.
posted
Don't forget that even such wonderful places as North Korea call themselves democracies of a sort. Why else would their official title be "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"?
I agree, though -- there's got to be some form of democracy in the Federation. The members of the Council are almost certainly elected; maybe it's just the President who's chosen by the Council in an indirect democracy instead?
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posted
Could be; certainly seems easier than getting the entire planetary population to vote for candidates for just one or two places on the coulncil.
As to 'local' governments, I would've thought the Federation would have certain standards as regards rights and extent of democracy ie a constitutional monarchy would be accepted but an autocratic system would be required to reform to certain levels of political participation/civil rights etc. before membership is granted.
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posted
How do we even know that there are local governments? Earth certainly doesn't seem to have one.
And we know so little about how the Federation works it could be that an outgoing Council Members appoints their successor for all we know.
Lwaxana for one seems to have been appointed purely for her aristocratic background, and she seems to be a Council Member (she is not, to my knowledge, called "Betazoid Ambassador to X", but merely "the Betazoid Ambassador", which suggests she is a CM. Of course I'd have to see some transcripts to be sure).
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