Wonder what the criteria for a planet to become a member of the Federation are. I remember warp drive is what gets the attention of the UFP. There was that herbivorous race in Insurrection that had only achieved warp drive a year before, so the standards by the time of DS9/TNG and the expanded universe post the Dominion War must've been a bit loose. I'm asking because for my post-DS9 fanfiction universe I've created the Star Trek version of Star Wars' Shistavanen as having achieved warp drive relatively recently. Some thinking I've done to this point. I figured the Shistavanen respect the Federation as the 'Alpha male' of the pack. They still are relatively isolationist, but see the value of being allied with the Federation given their homeworld is near the frontiers of Breen space and they've had some hostile dealings with the Breen and at times the Klingons. First contact with the Shistavanen occured around pre-TNG (2330-2340 roughly) when a Shistavanen spacecraft achieved warp speed and encountered a Federation starship. I'm curious what challenges a society of lupine humanoids who's social structure is built similar to that of wolf packs would have in being in the Federation. Their 'government' as it exists is the 'Council of Alphas' so the alpha male and female of each pack have seats on the council.
After two centuries the federation was "over 150 members/planets/whatever." The lowness of that number suggests to me that the federation doesn't try to get every species they can to join, which means they're selective. (Or, joining the federation isn't all that desirable) A potential applicant might be require to have some special attribute for the federation to take notice of them, like having a homeworld right next to the Cardassian homeworld.
I think one requirement is that the planet is united by a single government. There was an exception to this rule in a TNG episode where a planet was divided by two nation-states, but I remember that that caused a bit of an argument when it came to possible UFP membership. Because it was just a minority that wasn't interested however, it was ultimately not considered a big enough issue to stand in the way of consideration. I'd say something like contemporary Earth, with its 200 or so nation states, some of which at war with each other, would definitely not qualify, warp technology or not. Also I think that the planet's overall philosophy has to align with the Federation's, e.g. Positive human rights record, due process of law, interest of peaceful coexistence with other races. It would be interesting to explore if economic considerations play a role, such as wealth distribution and capitalism vs socialism, etc. Could the Ferengi, for example, join the de facto non-monetary based Federation with their economic system or would they have to reform first?
So I'm wondering how a loosely united planetary government, consisting of the alpha pairs of the many packs of Shistavanen that exist in their home system, would be perceived by the Federation, then?
The Shistavanen's (apparently) non-democractic governing system might not be a problem, as long as they would be agreeable to engaging in democracy in the federation council. I wonder if their established trade policies would be a problem though? I've always thought that part of the federation was a interstellar trade organization. From dialog between Picard and Crusher in that episode, it would seem that a planet's people were to be unified, their societies, and not that they needed to have a single government.
Recent research that I've seen about the 'rigidity' of the Alpha male/female in wolf packs has made me think a lot, actually. These two articles below mention that our views on wolf hierarchy were based around observing wholly captive populations of unrelated wolves. Longer term observation of wild packs has revealed somewhat of a more 'fluid' social structure, actually. The articles are below: Why Everything You Know About Wolf Packs is Wrong Wikipedia article on Canine Pack Behavior And the highlights are a quote from David L. Mech, a researcher on wolves: The so-what is that this made me think of the Shistavanen pack hierarchy and how they'd view Federation hierarchy as well. And they practice a loose sort of democracy in a way, insomuch that each pack has seats at their political 'Council of Alphas'. And within larger packs (such as those with more than one breeding pair), there would be something of a mini-council among said pairs. This research has given me a lot to mess with in researching and writing...
I think the standards could be quite complex and membership ultimately determined by a special committee who's purpose is to approve planets for inclusion in the UFP. I suspect that many planets would be habited by multiple intelligent species, meaning there could be multiple governments on the planet. UFP may recognize organizations that have multiple planets under their scope. For instance Klingon's might have settled in the equivalent of North America, with Romulan's in equivalent of Asia on dozens of worlds. I think the UFP would like to see planets that are self-sustaining and not dependent on other planets. The UFP likes to see planetary wealth and prosperity. They expect that the major problems of disease and poverty are resolved. Another criteria is that people actually go to and from the planet (warp drive) and part of a trade route.
From Journey to Babel, the final decision is directly made by the member's governments themselves, who gets to join the club. I do wonder who exactly starts the process? Does the Federation approach them, or they the Federation? In Angel One, Picard told the planet's leader that Starfleet would like the planet to join the Federation.