Is Star Trek's Federation a Democracy?

#startrek #lore #federation

The politics of Star Trek's Federation are often mysterious. This video attempts to address some of the uncertainties about the Federation's governmental functions.

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[ArchdukeJames]

I think this video grossly underestimates the role that the military plays in the Federation. Starfleet is ubiquitious: virtually every career path besides the strictly personal (restauranteer, for instance) is tied in with the military, and as evidenced by the repeated cases, the military conceives of themselves as basically the ultimate authority. The fact that no one ever discusses politics, but does discuss what the military is doing is evidence, to me, that they live under a military dictatorship in essence, if not in law. I'd say that they placate the populace by more or less not having many political disputes because they're relatively benevolent and provide for people's needs relatively gregariously. Kind of like how China can exist as an authortiarian state, but placates its people by prosperity.

[diegusmaximus]

Th eu parliament and the eu council both have legislative powers, the european council however doesn’t

[ebrim]

So yeah, I think it's somewhere between the US with states inextricably tied to a more powerful central authority and the EU where the separate members still retain most sovereign functions. As an example: Starfleet is a central defense force that is contributed to by all but probably as a supplement rather than a replacement for local militias or defense forces. This is somewhere on the spectrum between the US and EU where the former has very much a dominant centralized defense force and the latter is still mostly made up of separate forces though with a great deal of cooperation and joint projects.

[Auraborias]

I’ve always imagined it’s gotten more centralised over time.

So by DS9 it’s a unitary republic.

Could be something a future show could explore

[davidhewitt]

It's like antebellum US. The southern states thought of themselves as sovereign entities in a more general union. They didn't want to be governed by the more populous states. Of course, it was because they wanted to keep their cheap slave labor but my point on the government still stands.

Like the Southern states believed, the Federation members have their own local laws and traditions in a federal framework.

PS, I'm not debating the Civil War with anyone. It's what senators like Calhoun and others believed the constitution set forth.

[leejohnstone]

Sector 31 are the true power brokers of the Federation

[SnarkNSass]

The Almighty Algorithm slipped this into my feed... Noice✌🏻😁
🖖🏻

[janetybarra]

As interesting an exercise it is in analyzing the Federation government, it's going to be somewhat problematic given that politics will probably look much different in 200-300 years.

And even, at least to an extent, the kinds of things that we argue about politically today simply will lose much relevance in a post-scarcity economy.

[hansschreiber]

And I think I have to correct you: There is no private property (in the capitalistic sense) within the Federation, only personal property. "Personal property is legal, private property instead is theft" - Quote from Proudhon around 1840 AD.

With "Private property" we mean that (in the capitalist sense) no one has to own a factory for his own, you have to distinguish between your persinal property (your own house, your car, your bed, your clothes, your books, your furniture, your computer, your TV, your toothbrush etc.) and "Private property" (factories, banks, twelve tenement houses and so on)

In the long history of humankind the majority of the people yet don't distinguish between private and personal property and therefore we all are doomed to live under the lash

[greggasiorowski]

People often conflate the abolition of private property with personal property under communism, in theory you still are allowed your personal items but the means of producing them is a public good rather than it is now privatised.

[abowlofsalad]

The Federation is a post scarcity economy but private property via non-monetary reasons…probably. Maybe instead of buying land or buying a house you sign paperwork and then it’s yours.

[mrbojangles]

they rarely mention a change of power

[jonathanj.]

The Federation of Planets is basically just Space NATO.

[adamsfusion]

I don't think the Federation has a definition of private property, rather the depictions look more like personal property.

[madvulcan]

Who has jurisdiction over Star Fleet command on Earth? The Federation or the United States, does the U.S. even exist as a nation in Star Trek anymore?

[captainrgd]

I’ve always wondered what happened to the White House?

[michaelfranklin]

The Federation of Planets government is similar to the Russian Government System. The US is a Constitutional Republican Government. Calling the Federation of Planets a Democracy is totally not correct.

[Walsinats]

Federation doesn’t seem that much different from EU too be honest