How is the Federation government organized?

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-06-28 10:38pm

I know it has a constitution modeled on the UN Charter, and that it has a president and presumably some sort of legislative body, but other than that I'm totally in the dark. Can anyone give some sort of clarification?

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-06-28 10:45pm

How is the Federation government organized?

Badly.

Seriously though, I have no idea.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-06-28 10:54pm

I believe I remember reading one of the manuals that explained this. Under the President is a Federation Council which is made up of representatives from the member worlds. I presume that they would be the governing body of Starfleet Command, but I am not sure about it.

Kerneth · Post by **Kerneth** » 2003-06-28 11:14pm

In theory, the Federation Council is the civilian oversight for Starfleet.

In reality, Starfleet could tell the Federation Council to go screw itself and the Council couldn't do diddly about it, because all the combat-capable starships are controlled by Starfleet. One of the reasons we have an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corp, and an Air Force is because if one of those groups for some reason goes rogue, the others can and will police them. If Starfleet, as a group, goes rogue--say, the UFP made such a dramatically stupid decision that Starfleet just couldn't take it anymore and decided to support a coup de etat, as unlikely as that sounds--all the UFP ruling body can do is drop their drawers, bend over, and kiss their collective ass goodbye.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2003-06-28 11:15pm

Kerneth wrote:In theory, the Federation Council is the civilian oversight for Starfleet.

In reality, Starfleet could tell the Federation Council to go screw itself and the Council couldn't do diddly about it, because all the combat-capable starships are controlled by Starfleet. One of the reasons we have an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corp, and an Air Force is because if one of those groups for some reason goes rogue, the others can and will police them. If Starfleet, as a group, goes rogue--say, the UFP made such a dramatically stupid decision that Starfleet just couldn't take it anymore and decided to support a coup de etat, as unlikely as that sounds--all the UFP ruling body can do is drop their drawers, bend over, and kiss their collective ass goodbye.

Except that wouldn't work, because Federation people (including Starfleet) are all pasifistic pansies.

Kerneth · Post by **Kerneth** » 2003-06-28 11:26pm

YT300000 wrote:
Kerneth wrote:In theory, the Federation Council is the civilian oversight for Starfleet.

In reality, Starfleet could tell the Federation Council to go screw itself and the Council couldn't do diddly about it, because all the combat-capable starships are controlled by Starfleet. One of the reasons we have an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corp, and an Air Force is because if one of those groups for some reason goes rogue, the others can and will police them. If Starfleet, as a group, goes rogue--say, the UFP made such a dramatically stupid decision that Starfleet just couldn't take it anymore and decided to support a coup de etat, as unlikely as that sounds--all the UFP ruling body can do is drop their drawers, bend over, and kiss their collective ass goodbye.
Except that wouldn't work, because Federation people (including Starfleet) are all pasifistic pansies.

That might change in the future, however, as Starfleet more and more expands into a truly defensive space navy. Eventually, some people who are good soldiers are going to get promoted to command starships, and eventually those same soldiers are going to reach the Admiralty--if for no other reason than seniority.

Didn't a fair number of Starfleet officers jump ship and join the Maquis when the Federation abandoned their colonies to the Cardassians? And that was back when Starfleet was, primarily, a fleet meant for exploration! Imagine what the results would have been if half (or more!) of Starfleet consisted of warships crewed by trained, professional soldiers.

Head of Starfleet: "President, we have a situation. After your decision to abandon select colonies to the <insert alien species here>, 2/3rds of the ships in Starfleet warped to the nearest Federation planet, beamed down any members of the crew who supported this decision, then headed over to the border at high warp. Given that their response to hails asking their intentions ranged from 'Blowing the hell out of those bastards' to 'Yipee ki-yay, motherfucker' and 'Good, bad, we're the guys with the guns.', I can only imagine that they intend to resist the <alien species> conquest of those colonies."

President: "What do you suggest we do about this?"

Head of Starfleet: "Well, frankly sir, since that 2/3rds of Starfleet included half of our Sovereigns, almost all of our war-refit Galaxies and Nebulas, a good 80% of our lighter warship designs, and damn near all of our best combat officers, we can't do a damn thing."

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 2003-06-28 11:32pm

funny, I got the impression that Starfleet was commanded by a group of aged men and sometimes the puppet President would have to make them do something

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-06-29 02:05am

Kerneth wrote:One of the reasons we have an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corp, and an Air Force is because if one of those groups for some reason goes rogue, the others can and will police them.

I very much doubt that. The Air Force wouldn't be very good at hunting ballistic missile submarines, for example.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-06-29 08:43am

Federation government?

A disguised military dictatorship.

paladin · Post by **paladin** » 2003-06-29 08:59am

YT300000 wrote:How is the Federation government organized?

Badly.

My thoughts exactly!

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-06-29 11:52am

Largely human, and members of starfleet sit in on the federation council. (ST:4, 6) Though we have no idea how the socialist version works, other than they still have a council and president, and opinion polls matter, (DS9, ST:I)

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-06-29 12:10pm

Howedar wrote:
Kerneth wrote:One of the reasons we have an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corp, and an Air Force is because if one of those groups for some reason goes rogue, the others can and will police them.
I very much doubt that. The Air Force wouldn't be very good at hunting ballistic missile submarines, for example.

But those submarines are incapable of launching their nuclear weapons independently, and the air force could destroy their bases and tenders.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-06-29 02:50pm

the second i saw the title i thought "poorly."

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-06-29 04:42pm

The United Federation of Planets' government has not been clearly represented in the various series. Mostly, all that is known is that there is a Federation Council and a President (whether of the Federation Council or of the United Federation itself is at present unclear). Beyond that, references to the government are few and far between, mostly limited to vague mentions of the "Press and Information Bureau" (Generations) and such.

It is not clear how the President is elected, the length of the term which he or she serves, to what extent he or she has executive power, or whether he or she is a strong or weak chief executive. It is not clear if there is a Cabinet, a premier or prime minister, or even much in the way of Federal-level governmental apparatus.

However, as of The Motion Picture, the organisation of the Starfleet is clear. There is a uniformed officer who provides direction and exerts command and control over Starfleet: The Commanding Admiral. The Commanding Admiral's general staff includes the Chief of Starfleet Operations, responsible for fleet deployment (and perhaps also includes the Chief of Staff, seen in The Final Frontier); the general staff is responsible for the administration and control of the operating and support forces of the Starfleet. The Commanding Admiral also has a science staff.

Although Admiral Heihachiro Nogura was Commanding Admiral as of The Motion Picture, he appears to have been replaced by Admiral Morrow as of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock (he is referred to as "Starfleet Commander" or "Commander, Starfleet").

Publius

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-06-29 05:32pm

Hmm. The various member races retain their sovereignty and ability to leave the Federation, right? Do they retain their governmental systems, like in the European Union, or is everything highly centralized like the United States?

Furthermore, how can a charter based on the UN have a chance in hell of creating a government?

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-06-29 09:30pm

Bob McDob wrote:Furthermore, how can a charter based on the UN have a chance in hell of creating a government?

I think by based upon they mean "utilises some form of language".

Zed Snardbody · Post by **Zed Snardbody** » 2003-07-03 07:14am

After reading the constitution (God I was bored)

It looks like its organized this way

The Secretariat
-The pres and his folks

The Federation Council
-The Security Council of the future

All the Agencies
-Starfleet

The Supreem Assembly
-Reps form all the member worlds. They can bitch and approve the budget, but that seems to be it.

From the Federation Constitution

Chapter III:
Agencies
Article 7
There are established as the principle agencies of the United Federation of Planets: a Supreme Assembly, a Federation Council, an economic and social council, a trusteeship council, an interplanetary supreme court of justice, a Star Fleet combined peace-keeping force, and a Secretariat;

The Supreme Assembly
Article 9
Composition
The Supreme Assembly shall consist of all the members of the United Federation of Planets. Each member shall be entitled to have not more than five (5) representatives in this body;

Article 12
Where the Federation Council is executing the functions assigned to it under these Articles of Federation with respect to any dispute or situation, the Supreme Assembly shall make no recommendation with regard to that dispute or situation unless so requested by the Federation Council;
The Supreme-secretariat, with the consent of the Federation Council, shall notify the Supreme Assembly at each session of any matters relating to the maintenance of interplanetary peace and security which are under discussion in the Federation Council, and shall notify the Supreme Assembly, or the members if the Supreme Assembly is not in session, immediately when the Federation Council completes its deliberations on any such matters;

Article 17
The Supreme Assembly shall consider and approve the budget of the United Federation of Planets;
All budgets of, and expenses of the United Federation shall be made and paid in the common interplanetary credit. The common interplanetary credit shall be the official medium of exchange within the united Federation treaty exploration territory;

The Federation Council
Article 23
Composition
The Federation Council shall consist of eleven (11) members of the United Federation. The United Nations of the planet Earth, the Planetary Confederation of 40 Eridani, the United Planets of 61 Cygni, the Star Empire of Epsilon Indii, and the Alpha Centauri Concordium of Planets shall be permanent members of the Federation Council. The Supreme Assembly shall elect six (6) other members of the United Federation to be non-permanent members of the Federation Council, due regard being especially paid, in the first instance, to the contribution of the members to the United Federation to the maintenance of interplanetary peace and security and to the other purposes of the Federation, and also to equitable geo-galactic distribution;
The non permanent members of the Federation Council shall be elected for a term of two (2) session periods. In the first election of non-permanent members, however, three (3) shall be elected for a term of one (1) session period. A retiring member shall not be eligible for immediate re-election;
Functions and Powers
Article 24
In order to assure prompt and effective action by the United Federation of Planets, its members confer on the Federation Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of interplanetary peace and security, and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Federation Council acts on their behalf;

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-07-03 04:10pm

The Articles of Federation, of Stardate 0965 (the proper name of the document which you and Graham Kennedy refer to as "the Federation Constitution") were originally contained in Franz Joseph's Star Trek Technical Manual, published before the release of The Motion Picture. Although some elements from the book have appeared on screen or been mentioned in background radio chatter, those elements alone are considered canonical; the remainder of the book (including the Articles of Federation) remains non-canonical, and any accuracy or validity it may have is accidental.

However, in the absence of anything better to do, one may as well analyse the Articles.

Article 3 identifies members as "planetary social systems", and further specifies that the original members of the United Federation of Planets are those who had participated in the "interplanetary conference on interplanetary Federation at Babel" or had previously signed the "declaration of the United Federation of Planets of stardate 0963" and ratified the Articles of Federation per Article 110; this article is clearly a direct copy of the United Nations Charter, whose Article 3 specifically refers to "the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco" and "the Declaration by the United Nations of 1 January 1942".

Whereas the Declaration by the United Nations of 1 January 1942, and the subsequent United Nations Conference, were results of World War II, presumably the Declaration of the United Federation of Planets of Stardate 0963, and the subsequent Conference on Interplanetary Federation, are results of the Earth-Romulan War.

Article 7 establishes the principal agencies of the United Federation of Planets, viz., "a Supreme Assembly, a Federation Council, an economic and social council, a trusteeship council, an interplanetary supreme court of justice, a Star Fleet combined peace-keeping force, and a Secretariat"; again, this is clearly directly modelled on Article 7 of the United Nations Charter, establishing organs functionally identical to the UNO's "principal organs".

The most important agency is the Federation Council, functionally identical to the U.N. Security Council; the Federation Council has the ability to recommend to the Supreme Assembly new planetary social systems for membership (Art. 4), to take preventive or enforcement action against members (Art. 5), to restore rights and privileges of membership suspended by the Supreme Assembly (Art. 5), and even to recommend to the Supreme Assembly the expulsion of a member (Art. 6). Per Article 23, it has eleven members, with five permanent members (the United Nations of the planet Earth, the Planetary Confederation of 40 Eridani, the United Lanets of 61 Cygni, the Star Empire of Epsilon Indii, and the Alpha Centauri Concordium of Planets).

Furthermore, the members of the United Federation are obligated to accept and implement the decisions of the Federation Council (Art. 25), which has control of the system for the regulation of armaments (Art. 26). Of course, all non-procedural matters must be decided by the affirmative vote of seven members, including the concurring votes of the permanent members (Art. 27); such matters include the use of armed force, including "demonstrations, blockades, and other operations by Star Fleet combined peace-keeping forces" (Art. 42). It may establish subsidiary agencies (Art. 29), and elects its own Governor (Art. 30).

The Supreme Assembly, like the General Assembly, is composed of not more than five representatives from each member. It is effectually a deliberative, but not legislative, body, with no real authority except to "consider" and "make recommendations"; it has the ability to suspend rights and privileges of membership, or to admit new members, or to expel a member, but all this is done at the recommendation of the Federation Council. About the only substantive power invested in the Supreme Assembly is the power of the purse (Art. 17); it also has the ability to elect members of the Trusteeship Council and the non-permanent members of the Federation Council (Art. 18).

The Economic and Social Council, whose name predictably describes its function, is composed of eighteen members elected by the Supreme Assembly (Art. 61). It selects its own Director (Art. 72), and is generally devoid of interesting function.

Interestingly, Chapter XI is the Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing Regions, and indicates in no uncertain terms that some members of the United Federation "have assumed responsibilities for the administration of regions whose intelligent life forms have not yet attained a full measure of self-government" (Art. 73).

The Trusteeship Council is composed of those members administering trust regions, the permanent members of the Federation Council (even those not administering trust regions), and as many other members elected by the Supreme Assembly such that the membership of the Council is equally divided between those administering and those not administering trust regions (Art. 86). It selects its own Director (Art. 90), and generally oversees the administration of trust regions.

The Interplanetary Supreme Court of Justice is the principal judicial apparatus of the United Federation of Planets, and functions per "the appended statute, which is based upon the statute of the Tribunals of Alpha III, and forms an integral part of these Articles of Federation" (Art. 92). All members of the United Federation are ipso facto parties to the statute of the Interplanetary Supreme Court of Justice (Art. 93).

The Secretariat comprises the Supreme-secretariat (sic) and such staff as may be required; the Supreme-secretariat (presumably an alternate form of "Supreme Secretary") is appointed by the Supreme Assembly on the recommendation of the Federation Council, and is the "chief administrative officer of the United Federation (Art. 97).

There is a "Star Fleet Headquarters staff" which works under the Federation Council (Art. 26), presumably the same thing as the "Military Staff Committee of Star Fleet Headquarters" (Art. 46), which consists of the chiefs of staff of the permanent members of the Federation Council, and exercises command and control of "Star Fleet as the armed, peace-keeping, forces of the United Federation of Planets", and is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of all facilities of Star Fleet, including "armed ships, starbases, and training facilities" (Art. 47).

Which, of course, raises a question: If the United Nations Organization is the governing body of Earth, and is a permanent member of the Federation Council, then it would follow that the UNO chief of staff is ex officio a member of the Military Staff Committee. Who, exactly, is the UNO chief of staff? The Chairman of the Military Staff Committee (U.N. Charter, Art. 46 et seq.)?

All members so capable are obligated to make available to Star Fleet such armed forces, assistance, and facilities, including right of passage, "necessary for the maintenance of interplanetary peace and security", per decisions of the Federation Council (Art. 43); furthermore, all members so capable are obligated to assign contingents of their armed forces to Star Fleet for deployment as "a single peace-keeping force of the United Federation of Planets" (Art. 45).

Curiously enough, Article 52, section 4, authorises the establishment of "a Star Fleet Academy for the purpose of training officers and personnel for Star Fleet duty". Also, Article 53, section 1, specifically calls for fourteen heavy cruisers "provided with fire-power superior to that now employed by any member of the United Federation". Star Fleet is fully intended to be "used to conduct missions of scientific exploration and investigation within the treaty exploration territory whenever its services are not required in the maintenance of interplanetary peace and security" (Art. 54).

Members of the United Federation may enter into treaties and interplanetary agreements on their own initiative, provided that they register them with the Supreme-secretariat (Art. 102).

Notice that there is no President of the United Federation of Planets under these Articles of Federation. There is a President of the Supreme Assembly (Art. 21), but that is a parliamentary position, chiefly concerned with the orderly conduct of business. This is generally inconsistent with the films and series (especially The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country, and "Paradise Lost"). One should of course note that the President appears to have some relationship with the Federation Council.

Furthermore, the proposed character of the Star Fleet Combined Peace-Keeping Force is generally inconsistent with that seen in the series and films. Although the Starfleet has always been shown to be subject to the Federation Council (which has been seen to have Starfleet commissioned officers as members), there has never been any indication of the Military Staff Committee's existence. The Starfleet is administered by the Commanding Admiral of Starfleet, and by his general staff, located at Starfleet Headquarters (or Starfleet Command), San Francisco, Earth, according to The Motion Picture.

While the multiplanetary, integrated Star Fleet might account for such occasional oddities as the uniformly Vulcanian ship's company of the U.S.S. Intrepid (NCC-1631), even that is a poor explanation, at best.

Generally speaking, there is nothing contradicting the other aspects of the Articles of Federation, but the absence of a President, and the composition and administration of Star Fleet are problematic. The dominance of the Federation Council, however, is fairly accurate (and also alarming, considering that Starfleet commissioned officers have been seated on the Federation Council). Certainly, a UNO-style confederation would explain the existence of a Vulcanian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary at the seat of the government.

Of course, as has been seen in the history of the United Nations Organization, the "Great Powers" system of the Security Council can easily result in schizophrenic and inconsistent policy, which could potentially account for the United Federation's lacklustre foreign policy; if socialistic Earth and pacifistic Vulcan (possibly the Planetary Confederation of 40 Eridani) have permanent seats in the Federation Council, and veto power, it could easily result in a limp-wristed superpower.

Publius

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-07-04 01:03am

Kerneth wrote: Head of Starfleet: "President, we have a situation. After your decision to abandon select colonies to the <insert alien species here>, 2/3rds of the ships in Starfleet warped to the nearest Federation planet, beamed down any members of the crew who supported this decision, then headed over to the border at high warp. Given that their response to hails asking their intentions ranged from 'Blowing the hell out of those bastards' to 'Yipee ki-yay, motherfucker' and 'Good, bad, we're the guys with the guns.', I can only imagine that they intend to resist the <alien species> conquest of those colonies."

President: "What do you suggest we do about this?"

Head of Starfleet: "Well, frankly sir, since that 2/3rds of Starfleet included half of our Sovereigns, almost all of our war-refit Galaxies and Nebulas, a good 80% of our lighter warship designs, and damn near all of our best combat officers, we can't do a damn thing."

I'd pay good money to see this shit in the theatre, man.