Why is there resistance to the idea of Starfleet being military?

An act of war against whom?

 

No it doesn't. A legal declaration by a recognized state that such and such a body constitutes a part of its armed forces makes it a military. You can hire a bunch of mercenaries to fight a war for you, but that doesn't make them part of your army.

There are lots of conventional legal reasons for this that are, to be sure, only applicable to 20th century Earth. They weren't really applicable in past centuries and may not be in the future. They're definitely inapplicable to 24th century Trek universe where some of the most destructive and devastating fighting forces in the galaxy come from civilizations that have no idea what a "civilian" even is.

 

pretty much the point i have been trying to make, starfleet is not the military because the federation has not declared it so. Its main job is exploration and ambassadorial duties. They are also tasked with defending the federation if they need to but its not their main job. The same cannot be said of the klingons, cadarssians and romulans.
I am pretty certain that ferengii have some kind of means and structure to defend their territory but i doubt they would consider it a military institution, i am sure its main mandate would be protecting corporate and business interests.

 

The United Nations. Or if you want to break it down to smaller units, the other signatories nations of the Treaty of San Francisco.

All those operation off Africa were anti-piracy missions under the United Nations. That or protecting humanitarian aid groups from warlords and the like, also under the United Nations.

The Ferengi would have privateers the Nagas hires to defend their trade routes and break up a rival powers trade.

 

Starfleet is a space navy. They do all sorts of stuff. Defense is easily one of the most important.

 

I have to admit, I'm always perplexed by the people who say Starfleet is primarily science and exploration and defense is secondary. Do people really believe that with a Borg ship assimilating Federation worlds or a Dominion fleet conquering its way towards Earth, Starfleet's attitude is going to be "not dealing with that today, we got exploring to do."?

 

i never implied that it was not important. But their mandate is mainly exploration or was i mistaken with the way the next generation opened. Did they seem that their main job was defence or was it not exploration, with violence being a last resort. You think a klingon captain will go about handling business the same way picard did. Explorers in the past carried weapons to protect themselves but does that mean that they where millitary.
Even in ENT with the macros you know that star fleet main directive was not to act like an army.

 

The people who would feel free to attack them, once they've been stripped of their powerful protector.

There are 28 members in NATO, America is nearly three quarters of the alliance's total fire power.

 

Of course not. Starfleet's attitude is "Wow, that's a really powerful ship... let's scan it and see if it has any critical weaknesses we can exploit "

Really, the entire concept of "professional military" is destined to become obsolete. The Federation doesn't have a military for the same reason America doesn't have knights or lords, that's a political and social construct that no longer serves a purpose in their society. Rather, they have achieved a 100% success rate by building a corps of extremely competent scientists and engineers who can (sometimes literally) strip any problem down to the nuts and bolts and custom-deliver a solution in 48 minutes or less.

When you want a problem cured, send a doctor.
When you want a problem studied, send a scientist
When you want a problem shot, send a soldier
When you want a problem sold, send a Ferengi
When you want a problem assassinated, send Section 31
When you want a problem SOLVED, send Starfleet

 

Well, but that's the Enterprise's mission.

Also, in the past, many exploration missions were conducted by military vessels, with scientists attached.

 

In the past, many exploration missions were conducted by knights on horseback, and yet I've never seen anyone suggest that Jean Luc Picard is knight or that the Enterprise is a flying horse.

Starfleet (at least in TNG+) isn't a military force with scientists attached, it's a scientific service with soldiers attached.

 

It's a simple observation of historical exploration services, not an argument one way or the other.

 

There are many different parts to the military medical ; scientific research ; exploration ; historical research ; and combat and other things too

 

The treaty of 1945 was made before the United Nations was formed and had any military peace keepers remembering that Korea and Vietnam wars that had members of the United Nations supporting different sides and that still happens to this day and most likely to keep happen in the future.

 

Do I understand your position that if the United States government officially said that the forces that make up the current US military wasn't actually a military, that those force would not constitute a military?

Nothing changes about their size, equipment or abilities ... just their official description?

 

True the overall size of military is the same it is the way the units are being used because most people don't think the military is used for any humanitarian work but they do that and many types of things that most people wouldn't believe that they do.

 

Ahh yes, like Sir Lancelot's famous expedition to the North Pole.

 

I have to agree on this one.

Starfleet acts like a military. Court martials, negotiate treaties, ranks and salutes, making decisions about moving colonists...

In a way it would be better for Starfleet to classify themselves as a military than civilian service with military authority. Somehow it doesn't sound right....


Starfleet as a police force..... A military with police powers, a police force with military powers...does that sound familiar? lol

 

I attribute the insistence that Starfleet is a military to be our 21st century lack of imagination and unevolved ideas of what Starfleet is in the 24th century.