The Federation is surrounded by threats on multiple sides, however. Though in current novel continuity the Klingons are allies and the Cardassians less of a threat than before, there are still the Romulans, Breen and Tholians to contend with, as well as the Tzenkethi and a host of lesser players. From what I observed in the Star Charts book, there are fairly good-sized chunks of Federation-claimed space that could be easily cut off from the main body of the Federation by powers a lot closer to said space than the bulk of Starfleet. It would be a question of who got there the fastest with the mostest, to coin an old phrase.