Politics in Star Trek

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-01-05 09:26pm

This topic is intended to be something of a repository for information about politics in Star Trek -- a topic somewhat poorly documented elsewhere on the internet. Those few times that a site discusses politics, it often includes large amounts of speculation and outright fabrication, without any effort at distinguishing what is and what is not canonical.

As it is, this thread is (hopefully) to be a resource for "facts" about politics. It is interested in institutions and bodies, in responsibilities and relationships, both internal and external. It is interested in clearly cited and documented evidence.

For example, The Voyage Home showed a balding male human with a beard, and identified him in the credits as the "Federation President." This same office has subsequently been filled by a male nonhuman (identified in the novelisation as a Deltan named Ra-ghoratrei, which is as useful as any name, even if it is non-canonical), as seen in The Undiscovered Country, which also established that the Presidential offices are in Paris, Earth.

Later, in the Deep Space Nine episode "Paradise Lost," it was established that the incumbent during the Dominion War was a nonhuman named Jaresh Inyon, and that he had authority to declare martial law on Earth in the event of an emergency. Both this episode and The Undiscovered Country emphasise that the President has operational and administrative command and control over the Starfleet.

Ideally, this thread should be strictly political and governmental in its content, but, failing that, information about the Starfleet or the various counterparts in the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Quadrants is acceptable.

An example of this would be the citation of The Motion Picture as establishing that Starfleet Headquarters is in San Francisco, Earth.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-01-05 10:20pm

As far as I know, wartime decisions are made by the Federation governing body. Consider this:

Before a Federation - Dominion battle in DS9 (can't remember which) , Admiral Ross admitted to Sisko that he couldn't get any more ships for the upcoming fight, because of "politics". That implies that the federation is heavily bureaucratic.

paladin · Post by **paladin** » 2003-01-05 10:49pm

My fav from the TOS was when Spock was being referred to the Bureau of Treaties by Starfleet Command and Starfleet Command by the Bureau of Treaties. The whole thing revolved around Kirk missing on a planet he was beaming down to. The treaty the Federation had with the planet forbid orbiting vessels from scanning the planet.

Ted C · Post by **Ted C** » 2003-01-06 11:33am

The Federation has a "President" and a "Council", but we have seen no evidence of elections or any kind of election system (unlike B5, in which a Presidential election took place in the first season).

I don't think we've ever had any clear description of how the Federation President acquires the office, no how Council members acquire theirs.

Are the Council members selected by the member planet's government?
Is the President selected by the Council?
Does the Federation actually have anything resembling a democracy or other representative government?

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-06 11:44am

JARESH-INYO
I never sought this job. I was
content to simply represent my
people on the Federation Council.
When they asked me to submit my
name for election, I almost said
no. Today I wish I had.

They have some sort of election it seems and we also get that he represented his planet (representative government), the question is whether the peolpe elect the Federation president of the council does.

FaxModem1 · Post by **FaxModem1** » 2003-01-06 12:21pm

For some reason, I'm betting that the council does.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-01-06 03:06pm

The romulan system actually seems the most democratic and republican from post TNG trek (Yes, I have seen darkling's quotes) In that it is modelled on the Roman (republican) System (though women hold postsin the senate and the continuing comitte{more later}), with some changes.

The first change is that the head of state is for some reason adressed and titled "Praetor" (My thanks again to Publius for that item)

Another change in the government is the Continuing comittee (inter arma enim silent leges, DS9). Which does, at first sound suspisious, the function of the body seems to be similar to the cabinet in most western governments today. From the same episode we know several things about the comitte. 1) it seems to consist of at least seven people (we have no way of knowing wether this is normal.) To be on the comittee you must be elevated from the senate, though it is usually a given that the chairman of the Tal'Shiar is on the comittee, he may or may not be a senator already. This process does not seem to be electoral, but rather is controlled by either the senate or the comittee. We know that more than one person is responsible, as elevations may be blocked.

There are according to Shinzon (Nemesis {no this is not a spoiler}) frequent changes in government, and during one such change, the young Shinzon was sent to Remus. The nature of these changes is speculative at best. At first examination it sounds like there are frequent coups on romulus, however this could just as easily be general elections.

Of course with the death of the senate in Nemesis

, much remains to be speculated on, though Shinzon's attempt to establish a (personal, permanant) dictatorship seems to have failed.

FaxModem1 · Post by **FaxModem1** » 2003-01-06 04:23pm

Let's see, the Klingons have a Klingon Council, and the head of that council is called the "Chancellor", women were allowed in the council in the 23rd century but are not anymore. The Chancellor can be replaced in coucil by a challenge to the death in a knife fight(kinda like Dune).Currently, Martok is head of the Klingon Council, what he plans to do I have no idea.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-06 04:38pm

Bajor was actually pretty similiar to a modern democrarcy as I recall with the chamber of ministers being headed up by a first minister (with the posts being decided by election).
I'm not sure how the Vedek assembly fits into this though, whether they have actual power or just influence over the people, I don't know however the Kai is also an elected position.

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-01-06 06:05pm

Yes, but elected by whom? Technically, the Pope is also an elected official, as the incumbent is elected for life by the College of Cardinals.

The Klingons do appear to be governed by the High Council, which is presided over by the Chancellor. However, based on all appearances, the chancellor is, in fact, an autocrat, despite the electoral nature of the office. There has never been serious political opposition shown within the Klingon Empire; when Chancellor Gorkon made his détente initiative, he was not voted down, he was assassinated (ref. The Undiscovered Country).

Likewise, Chancellor Azetbur faced no actual political opposition; nor did Chancellor Gowron, once he had secured election for himself. It seems that the Klingons have a form of elective monarchy, the lack of royalty associated with the monarch notwithstanding.

What is particularly interesting is the long-vacant imperial throne, with the chancellor exercising autocratic authority. This does, in fact, parallel an historic circumstance: When Generalfeldmarschall Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, the incumbent Reichspräsident (Reich President), died in August 1934, the office was allowed to remain vacant, and the incumbent Reichskanzler (Reich Chancellor), Adolf Hitler, assimilated the Presidential powers into his own office.

As a result, there was no clear mechanism for selecting a new Reich chancellor in the event of Hitler's death (first Führerdeputy Rudolf Heß and then Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring were to succeed as head of the NSDAP), and Hitler was forced to appoint a new Reich president (Großadmiral Karl Dönitz) and a new Reich chancellor (Dr Joseph Göbbels) in his last will and testament.

Similarly, in the aftermath of Chancellor Gorkon's death, his daughter simply assumed his office, and continued to pursue his policies (again, in The Undiscovered Country). General Martok became chancellor upon killing Chancellor Gowron in a duel, and Chancellor Gowron himself was simply one claimant to the premiership -- the fact that there were claimants, and not candidates is rather odd.

The Federation Council is a rather curious thing. Is it a legislature? What is its membership? Jaresh-Inyon implies that members are represented in the Council, but are all members represented, or is it rotational representation? If all members are represented, then how was it possible that the Federation Council seen in The Voyage Home was able to do anything, as the councillors present could certainly not be anything approaching a quorum to do business?

Furthermore, how many representatives are there per member? Is it population-based? There were multiple members of the same species in the Council in The Voyage Home.

And potentially most scandalously (for an ostensibly democratic union), the Federation Council includes uniformed, commissioned officers of the Starfleet! The councillors in The Voyage Home included several admirals and commodores, just as the United Federation delegation to the Khitomer Conference included several uniformed, commissioned officers as delegates in The Undiscovered Country.

Publius

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2003-01-06 08:28pm

ST:9 proves ST is not a democracy.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-06 08:31pm

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:ST:9 proves ST is not a democracy.

Care to fill us in?

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-01-07 01:29pm

Ppl seem to forget Worf killed Gowron, and Martok was handed the chancelorship.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-01-07 03:32pm

TheDarkling wrote:Bajor was actually pretty similiar to a modern democrarcy as I recall with the chamber of ministers being headed up by a first minister (with the posts being decided by election).
I'm not sure how the Vedek assembly fits into this though, whether they have actual power or just influence over the people, I don't know however the Kai is also an elected position.

I thought it was a provisional govt?

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-07 03:47pm

I think provisional government was the title but the chamber of minister was just that, just like the UK has Parliment and the house of Lords.

At a guess (sorry thread starter) I would guess the provisional government was setup in a similar manner with the chamber of ministers making up the main house and the Vedek assembly being a second house (but with less power in keeping with the British system analogy).

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-01-07 08:28pm

TheDarkling wrote:I think provisional government was the title but the chamber of minister was just that, just like the UK has Parliment and the house of Lords.

At a guess (sorry thread starter) I would guess the provisional government was setup in a similar manner with the chamber of ministers making up the main house and the Vedek assembly being a second house (but with less power in keeping with the British system analogy).

Speculation on facts in evidence is perfectly acceptable -- insofar as that speculation is logical or historically precedented.

Technically, the Parliament is composed of three parts: The Queen, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The Commons and the House are the lower and upper chambers, respectively, of the same legislature; the Government is a specific subset of the Parliament, predominantly of the Commons.

If the Bajoran Provisional Government is modelled after the parliamentary government popular in Europe and European-based states on Earth, then it is more likely that the Chamber of Ministers is presided over by a head of government chosen by the majority of members of the Vedek Assembly (or by whatever officer functions as chief of state). It would then follow that the head of government selected the other members of the Chamber.

Has there ever been any evidence of political parties in the United Federation? Or, perhaps more importantly: Is citizenship species-based, i.e., are all humans automatically citizens of Earth and subject to its jurisdiction? Or can a human be a citizen of Vulcan, and participate in its governmental process?

No doubt questions on the United Federation's political structure would be much easier to answer if Mr Joseph's Starfleet Technical Manual were still canonical; amongst other interesting things, it contained the Articles of Federation, the constitution of the United Federation.

Publius

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-07 09:07pm

Well I’m not really sure to what extent the Vedek assembly is involved in the politics of Bajor whether they actually have similar to the Chamber of Ministers, a much reduced amount of power (like the house of Lords) or actually no power at all.

The Kai would be the head of the Vedek assembly and the first minister is in charge of the Chamber of ministers and these two positions were painted as the most powerful on the planet (although again the Kai could simply be powerful in that she holds sway over the public while the first minister is actually in charge on the political decisions).

I don't recall Shakar having any party affiliations and he was the only runner for the position which would point to him being a head of state yet he was a member of the chamber of ministers (I seem to remember areference to that and his title also implies it), so he could fill both roles of head of government and head of state I suppose although it is possible he is infact seperate from the Chamber and is just the head of state.

I would guess that people can switch planets and vote the representative (asuming thats how it works) for that planet.
It also seems that only member worlds get representation (assuming that the member worlds are infact homeworlds of different species) and that the various colonies are the member worlds responsibility.

This seems to be the case in the episode The host where the planet Peliar Zel has a Federation representative (who resides on Peliar Zel which seems odd rehaps the Federation senate only meets over subspace and not in person? or its not necessary to meet in person) yet the two orbiting moons don't.

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-01-11 09:26pm

Note to the moderator: Consider moving this thread to the Nemesis forum, as it is Star Trek-only in topic matter.

Does the United Federation of Planets have anything remotely approaching a federal structure? The name suggests that it ought to be at least nominally comparable in structure to the United States of America or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with a federal government and individual state or member governments.

But is this in fact the case? Strictly speaking, aside from Starfleet, there is very little in the way of a federal structure at all in Star Trek, aside from the Federation Council. In a sense, the Federation actually seems to be a confederation, comparable to the United Colonies prior to the ratification of the Constitution.

Consider, for a moment: Vulcan has an Ambassador.

Why does Vulcan have an Ambassador within the Federation? In The Search for Spock, it is revealed that not only is there a Vulcan Embassy on Earth, but the Vulcan Ambassador can actually grant asylum to a Starfleet commissioned officer (Commander Uhura)! Indeed, in The Undiscovered Country, no distinction is made in position among Ambassador Sarek, Ambassador Nanclus and Ambassador Kamarag (so named in the novelisation) when they appear before the President of the United Federation (Ra-ghoratrei) in his office.

Furthermore, in The Undiscovered Country, Captain Spock remarks that he has opened dialogue with Chancellor Gorkon at the behest of the Vulcan Ambassador. That it to say, Vulcan is conducting foreign policy!

States of the Union do not keep embassies in Washington, D.C., or exchange ambassadors with one another. Nor did the Soviet Socialist Republics send embassages to Moscow. Most pointedly, neither States nor SSRs conducted foreign policy. In fact, the independent conduct of foreign policy is one of the primary reasons the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation never coalesced into a modern nation-state as did England and France.

In fact, Star Trek gives every outward appearance that Vulcan is a sovereign power allied with the United Federation, despite the knowledge that it is in fact a member of the Federation. If Ambassador Sarek were a member of the Federal Government, as chief representative of Vulcan, should he not be a Federation Councillor? If so, he should certainly not be conducting foreign policy.

If Ambassador Sarek is strictly a diplomatic agent of Vulcan itself, what kind of federal government does the United Federation have? Do members have both ambassadors to the Federal Government, and representatives in the Federal Government?

Publius

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-01-11 09:27pm

I'm moving this thread over to the newly improved "Pure Star Trek Forum." I'll leave a shadow thread to make sure no one gets lost.

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-01-11 09:31pm

Publius wrote:Note to the moderator: Consider moving this thread to the Nemesis forum, as it is Star Trek-only in topic matter.

Too quick for you, eh, Ossus?

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-01-11 09:56pm

Publius wrote:
Publius wrote:Note to the moderator: Consider moving this thread to the Nemesis forum, as it is Star Trek-only in topic matter.
Too quick for you, eh, Ossus?

Sure was. I moved it less than one minute after you posted that.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-01-11 10:20pm

Publius: I think thats because the UFP is much closer to a suped up UN (or maybe EU would be more accurate)than the US or USSR.

The member worlds (mini-empires?) co-operate for mutual trade/technology/military benefit but as you have pointed out the various member nations still have a great deal of individuality (Vulcan being the most well known non earth member displays this well).

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2003-01-11 10:35pm

TheDarkling wrote:
Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:ST:9 proves ST is not a democracy.
Care to fill us in?

We know from TNG that Federation can be denied. The planet must fill certain expectations.

However, in Insurrection, the Baku world in concidered to be a Federation world. It's fate was decided by the Federation Council yet it had no reprensetation. Hell, it had no knowledge of the UFP.

This is NOT a democracy! People on a world inside Federation space but has been denied membership and cannot vote, but the Federation conciders the world theirs to do with what they please.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-01-11 10:39pm

It is a false democracy, where the Federation restricts voting power to the selected few but considers itself sovereign over all.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2003-01-11 10:45pm

Darth Wong wrote:It is a false democracy, where the Federation restricts voting power to the selected few but considers itself sovereign over all.

Would the Maquis be further proof? They have no rights, but the Federation can impose their laws on them.