Only if mandatory federal service comes with it.
Do political parties exist in the world of STAR TREK?
- Thread starter dswynne1
- Start date
There is no "Mandatory Federal Service".
Elected Representative Positions are a totally voluntary service that comes from the electorate base in each region and will only become "Mandatory" if there are no volunteers in each region to run for office to represent your region.
But that's a very rare condition to meet. Out of the countless people in each region, there is almost always somebody who wants to run for political office.
In the face of Federation Council... I see no point to having political parties.
In fact, having a 'President of the Federation' while having a Federation Council at the same time is also pointless.
A council is likely to be less biased as its comprised of all member species representatives... so I didn't like the fact the UFP had a President... it seems... irrelevant.
But given that we've seen one (actually two if you count the movies), a president could be 'elected' by rotating through every species member planet (similar to how Starfleet rotates through member species and places them on the USS Tikhov to take care of the seeds).
Mandatory voting isn't going to work the way you think it will. Back people into a corner and tell people who don't give a shit about politics they have to vote Or Else just means they're more likely to throw away their vote on either the incumbent, whoever appears to be in the lead, or base the vote on something completely arbitrary like whoever is the best looking candidate or whatever. True freedom means giving people the right to throw away their rights. Otherwise you edge closer and closer to tyranny and oppression, which, yes, is a common criticism against the system in Australia.
Now, I get it, voter apathy can hurt democracy, and certainly some of the less than pleasant world leaders in history gained power in democracies as a result of voter apathy and a disinterested populace not bothering with elections, but it is a necessary evil of democracy. People will vote if they care enough about the issues at hand. At the risk of bringing real world politics into this, just look at the 2020 election in the US, which saw record numbers of first time voters, including many of whom were in their forties or fifties. People will vote when there's something to make them give a damn. The trick to getting people to vote is to present issues that matter to them, that make them want to go vote. Not forcing them into the voting booth with the threat of consequences if they don't.
And here's a fun fact, a majority of the people who took part in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, did not vote themselves. So if there had been mandatory voting in the US last year, you could have ended up with a second term of Trump. Food for thought.
That's not what I mean.
Exactly. Freedom means being able to make choices people won't agree with, including not participating in what others deem important.
Another regulation to be put in place, any polling about whomever is in what lead is not allowed to happen by the media. There's already plenty of credible analysis that polling & predicting who is in whatever lead affects the outcome and is a form of bias. Regulation needs to be put in place so that media cannot skew things by predictive analysis reporting or polling about it.
We'll have to make sure all photos, videos, holographic representations are as realistic, undoctored, unflattering as possible to even the playing field.
If you want to not vote, people still do that in Australia. Why you would want to "Not Participate" is beyond me.
None of the consequences are "Life Threatening" in any way, shape, or form. They're the same level of consequences as in Australia.
And if you had a better informed populace, you'd have a completely different Executive management system like a "Executive Council" similar to the Federal Council of Switzerland. Instead of having a single leader like a President / Prime Minister / etc.
In my 26th Century "Head Canon", the concept of a single seat of power controlling the Executive Branch of the UFP Government has been abolished across all of the UFP at every level of government. (Federal / State / Regional / County / City / Local / etc).
The Swiss got it right IMO. The Executive Branch needs a small council with 9x seats to run the Government.
- "Winner Take All / First Past the Post" needs to be abolished for all Representative Democracies. That's the WORST thing to happen to modern Representative Democracies IMO.
- Proportional Representation per seat with a unlimited # of candidates and every candidate going up to the Executive Council with the voting power that they amassed from their constituency is the only accurate solution. You have no way of "Skewing" or manipulating the "Vote". Proportional Representation per seat needs to be applied to every representative seat across the government that is elected. That means Executive Council, Congress, etc. Apply this 'Proportional Representation' per Seat to EVERY level (Federal, State, Region, County, City, Local, etc) of government for every elected office.
- Yes I know that means more people in office with ≤ 1.0 voting power per seat for the combined representatives of each seat. That's by design and meant to distribute power and make sure no one person has too much power when representing their region and representing the UFP.
Instead of having 1 person take all the power, everybody gets to go into power with the voting power allocated to them by all the constituents in their region that they're voted from. This prevents alot of the whining that we hear about constantly from any side. No more "My person lost, and this person isn't my president".
We have the technology to do that RIGHT NOW, we just need to get away from the overy complicated BS that is the current system that is corrupt, skewed, and run by the dumbest method "Winner Take All / First Past the Post". We need to go "Old School" and have independent Voter ID#'s assigned to all citizenry.
Then each Citizen gets to vote and allocate their 100 Integer Points to any candidates they want and split up their 100 Integer Points in any which way, that means their sum total point allocation only needs to be ≤ 100 points.
As far as the 2020 election is concerned, everybody who ran for the Executive Seat would've gone up into the Executive Council with voting power equivalent to what the constituency allocated to them. And there would be FAR more candidates then the stupid Dog & Pony show that we saw.
+ Also, for the 9x Executive Council seats:
- There is a 12x year cumulative Term Limit
- 3x Seats have a 12x year Term
- 2x Seats have a _6x year Term
- 2x Seats have a _4x year Term
- 2x Seats have a _2x year Term
With non Consecutive-Terms allowed to prevent the "Incumbent effect" and Elections every other year, you get people cycling in and out of the Executive Council making it MUCH harder for corruption to spread and manipulate the government at the highest level.
You were always free to do that, but it's dumb and foolish to do that.
Too many people whine about the government without ever even voting or doing their basic research.
And? I love the idea you can stop dumb and foolish by outlawing it, and that you can force people to think. It's amazing what you can fix by legislation.
It's not "Outlawing it". It's HEAVILY disincentivizing it.
You can fix many things, but not everything.
I'll take your word for it.
Do you dislike the Australian Governments methods for getting Democratic Participation?
Irrelevant.
Well in Australia it's only a minor fine for not voting.
And if you look at history, in the us, used to have a lot more turnout. These days it's alot of people being blase about current politics, I.e. they couldn't give a crap, same results whomever they vote for.
As for the president of the federation.. Somebody has to be in charge. To me it's like a chief Senator , elected by the Senate to head it. The face of the government.
No political parties but you would still have war hawks, peace doves.expansionists xenophopics etc. And they would band together .
As for voting. 1 represenative per planet, no matter the population. So the poor, small planets have an equal say .. Same with big planets.
It's like now, big cites have most of the population, but the rural areas need to be equally represented.
As
And if you look at history, in the us, used to have a lot more turnout. These days it's alot of people being blase about current politics, I.e. they couldn't give a crap, same results whomever they vote for.
As for the president of the federation.. Somebody has to be in charge. To me it's like a chief Senator , elected by the Senate to head it. The face of the government.
No political parties but you would still have war hawks, peace doves.expansionists xenophopics etc. And they would band together .
As for voting. 1 represenative per planet, no matter the population. So the poor, small planets have an equal say .. Same with big planets.
It's like now, big cites have most of the population, but the rural areas need to be equally represented.
As
I'm sure there's political parties. Great controversy over whether we should increase funding to health care benefits by 200% or 250%! And whether we should increase efforts to attract new Federation members by a lot or a WHOLE lot.
After DS9 there's probably a faction that wants to increase military presence.
After DS9 there's probably a faction that wants to increase military presence.
That leads to a whole lot of problems in places like America where it leads to rural areas dictating policy to the majority of the population, so I'd think the Federation has some protections against those kinds of issues. Like it's more a true representative democracy, policy implementation and resourcing decisions are made by politically neutral subject matter experts appointed by some kind of voting consensus. Planets are in control of their own laws, only with a few basic rules that apply to everyone that guarantee sentient rights. Any voting body only weighs in on true interplanetary conflicts. That way you avoid problems of decisions being made by political cronies, and a majority of small population planets dictating policy for everyone.
Weak federal government.
In general just dealing with federation wide stuff.
Then you have small planets under represented. Having large planets dictate to smaller ones. Also not good
In general just dealing with federation wide stuff.
Then you have small planets under represented. Having large planets dictate to smaller ones. Also not good
That's why I went with a Tri-Cameral Legislature in my 26th Century UFP governmental structure Head Cannon.
Within the Legislative Branch:
- You have the House which represents the people
- You have the Senate which represents the Planet
- You have the Council which represents each Member Race/Species
Yes, it could disincentivize low population species from joining.
That's pretty much how Andromeda's old Systems Commonwealth was set up. It used three different methods of representation: 1) direct popular vote, 2) member planet, and 3) space sector.
Part One:
I really don't see how that could be. The Federation is clearly a sovereign state. It possesses:
I agree that Trek Lit has never really explained how the Federation could function without political parties.
It is worth noting some asterisks about the blanket statement about the Trek Lit version of the Federation not having political parties: There are political parties at a planetary level (Andor has parties, for instance in the Typhon Pact series), and the UFP did have two political parties, the Planetarist Party and the Federalist Party, in the first ten years of its existence (Enterprise: Rise of the Federation series).
The concept may exist, but it has never manifested in real life for long. In the real world, every democracy where this has been attempted has either:
That's an excellent question! I would like to imagine that there's a nonpartisan office from a Federation Elections Commission that distributes an equal amount of resources to all registered Federation candidates (and a Member State equivalent for Member State-level candidates) so that all candidates can compete on an equal footing to get their message out to the public and try to persuade the people.
In the Trek Lit continuity -- which I should mention is being wrapped up, since the stories set in that continuity in novels published between 2000 and 2020 were subsequently contradicted by Season One of Star Trek: Picard -- the Federation government broadly works as follows:
There are other broad axes of potential disagreement. For instance, how interventionist or isolationist should the Federation be?
For whatever it's worth, in the Trek Lit continuity, 2372 (DS9 Season Four/VOY Season Two) was an election year, and President Jaresh-Inyo was up for re-election against Federation Councillor Min Zife of Bolarus and Betazed Governor Rel Obertag. The fact that Admiral Leyton was able to fool Jaresh-Inyo into declaring a State of Emergency and almost was overthrown, led the voters to elect Zife as President. When Jaresh-Inyo dies in 2380, he is commonly remembered as a good peacetime president but not suited for wartime.
Well, first off, the U.N. definitely has coalitions that operate in competition with one-another. But the real reason there are no political parties at the U.N. is that it is not a sovereign state -- it's not where the real power lies. The Federation is a sovereign state that exercises real power.
For whatever it's worth, the Litverse continuity was this:
Is the Romulan Free State an adversary? Obviously the Tal Shiar are still a threat, but I think there's good reason to view the RFS as much less belligerent than the RSE. They've allowed for the abolition of the Neutral Zone; they invited Federation scientists to participate in administering the Borg Reclamation Project aboard the Artifact, and even allowed Hugh, a Federation citizen, to serve as its Executive Director. We know from "Broken Pieces" that the Tal Shiar did not have legal carte blanche to seize control of RFS facilities the way it had enjoyed carte blanche to seize control of Romulan ships under the Star Empire.
Obviously the RFS may not be an ally, but that's not the same as it being an adversary.
Yep. His Rise of the Federation series establishes that:
Well. I agree that the ultimate effect of outlawing political parties is that democracy cannot function, but that's not necessarily the same thing as the establishment of a dictatorship either. Governmental structures can evolve that are authoritarian without being dictatorial.
I really don't see how that could be. The Federation is clearly a sovereign state. It possesses:
- a discrete territory (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds") over which it possesses the right to make binding law (TNG: "Force of Nature")
- a constitution (TNG: "The Drumhead") that guarantees all sentient beings within its territory and aboard its starships and starbases certain enumerated rights (TNG: "The Perfect Mate;" VOY: "Author, Author")
- a head of state in the President of the United Federation of Planets (TVH) who:
- is legally empowered to set foreign policy (TUC)
- is legally empowered to declare States of Emergency on Federation worlds that suspend certain civil rights and liberties (DS9: "Homefront")
- is legally empowered to command Starfleet and control Starfleet deployments (DS9: "Paradise Lost")
- has a Cabinet (DS9: "Extreme Measures")
- a legislature in the Federation Council (TOS: "Amok Time"), which is legally empowered to
- declare war (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")
- make binding law (TNG: "Force of Nature")
- a law enforcement agency in Federation Security which has the right to arrest and jail sentient beings and charge them with violations of law (TSFS)
- a military in Starfleet which has the legal authority to:
- wage war and defend the Federation (TOS: "Errand of Mercy;" DS9: "A Call to Arms," et al)
- make binding law specifically over its officers and enlisted personnel
- operate for those officers and enlisted personnel:
- special military courts ("courts-martial") (TOS "Court-Martial")
- special military prisons (TNG: "Ensign Ro;" VOY: "Caretaker, Part I")
- a system of courts for civilians charged with crimes, including a system of grand juries with the power to compel testimony and indict persons charged with crimes (DS9: "The Ascent")
- a system of prisons for those persons convicted of crimes (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")
- a Supreme Court with the power of judicial review (DS9: "Dr. Bashir, I Presume?")
- an extensive civilian bureaucracy, including:
- a Central Bureau of Penology (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")
- a Department of Cartography (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges")
- a Department of Temporal Investigations (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
- a Federation Archaeology Council (TNG: "Qpid")
- a Federation Astronomical Committee (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
- a Federation Bureau of Industrialization (TOS: "The Cloud Minders")
- a Federation Bureau of Planetary Treaties (TOS: "The Mark of Gideon," TNG: "The Ensigns of Command")
- a Federation Science Bureau (TWOK) and a Federation Science Council (TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris," TNG: "Gambit, Part I," TNG: "Force of Nature")
- a Federation Naval Patrol (VOY: "Thirty Days")
- a Federation Food and Drug Administration (SRT: "The Trouble with Edward")
- a Federation Standard Measurement Bureau (TNG: "The Ensigns of Command").
I agree that Trek Lit has never really explained how the Federation could function without political parties.
It is worth noting some asterisks about the blanket statement about the Trek Lit version of the Federation not having political parties: There are political parties at a planetary level (Andor has parties, for instance in the Typhon Pact series), and the UFP did have two political parties, the Planetarist Party and the Federalist Party, in the first ten years of its existence (Enterprise: Rise of the Federation series).
The concept may exist, but it has never manifested in real life for long. In the real world, every democracy where this has been attempted has either:
- developed factions that became political parties
- This happened to the United States twice -- once during President Washington's administration, and once after the "Era of Good Feelings" ended)
- become an authoritarian or oligarchical state
- This is what happened in a great many post-colonial African states such as Uganda
So then the important question is... how does campaign finance work in a moneyless economy?
Kor
That's an excellent question! I would like to imagine that there's a nonpartisan office from a Federation Elections Commission that distributes an equal amount of resources to all registered Federation candidates (and a Member State equivalent for Member State-level candidates) so that all candidates can compete on an equal footing to get their message out to the public and try to persuade the people.
In the Trek Lit continuity -- which I should mention is being wrapped up, since the stories set in that continuity in novels published between 2000 and 2020 were subsequently contradicted by Season One of Star Trek: Picard -- the Federation government broadly works as follows:
- The President of the United Federation of Planets is popularly elected. Petitions for candidacy are submitted to the Federation Council, which verifies that candidates meet certain legal criteria that have not been specified in the novels; petitions can be submitted anonymously. Presidential elections are audited by two independent auditing firms before final results are publicly announced, and voting and determining the results can take up to seven standard days. Presidents serve four-year terms and do not have any term limits, but no President has served more than three terms because the job is so overwhelming. Presidents serve as the presiding officers of full sessions of the Federation Council, and have the option to president over sessions of the sub-councils (committees) of the full Council. The Federation President may veto Acts of Council, but a 2/3rds majority of Council may override the veto.
- In the event of the President's death or resignation, a Federation Councillor is made Federation President Pro Tempore. The President Pro Tempore governs for a period of time determined by statute, and a Special Election is called. In 2379, the period of time was one standard month; in 2385, the period was extended to two months.
- The Federation Council is comprised of a single Federation Council from each Member State. In the 2160s, Federation Councillors were popularly elected, but by the 2370s, Member States could determine for themselves how to select their Councillor.
- The Federation Councillors for the Andorian Empire, for instance, was appointed by the Presider of the Parliament Andoria as part of his/her cabinet.
- The Federation Councillor for the Republic of Bajor was appointed by the First Minister with the advice and consent of the Chamber of Ministers, with temporary appointments possible if the Chamber is in recess.
- The Federation Councillor for Betazed is popularly elected.
- Sessions of the full Federation Council are presided over by the Federation President. The Council's committees are referred to as sub-councils but named the Federation X Council individually -- so the committee dealing with transportation is called the Federation Transportation Council; the committee dealing with national security is called the Federation Security Council; etc. The President may, but is not required to, preside over sessions of the sub-councils; in the absence of the President, the sub-council is presided over by the Chair of Vice Chair. Members of each sub-council are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the full Council.
There are other broad axes of potential disagreement. For instance, how interventionist or isolationist should the Federation be?
For whatever it's worth, in the Trek Lit continuity, 2372 (DS9 Season Four/VOY Season Two) was an election year, and President Jaresh-Inyo was up for re-election against Federation Councillor Min Zife of Bolarus and Betazed Governor Rel Obertag. The fact that Admiral Leyton was able to fool Jaresh-Inyo into declaring a State of Emergency and almost was overthrown, led the voters to elect Zife as President. When Jaresh-Inyo dies in 2380, he is commonly remembered as a good peacetime president but not suited for wartime.
Well, first off, the U.N. definitely has coalitions that operate in competition with one-another. But the real reason there are no political parties at the U.N. is that it is not a sovereign state -- it's not where the real power lies. The Federation is a sovereign state that exercises real power.
For whatever it's worth, the Litverse continuity was this:
2352: T'Pragh of Vulcan is elected President. She is subsequently elected to two more terms in 2356 and 2360. She is President during TNG S1.
2364 (TNG S1): Amitra of Pandril, Cabinet member for President T'Pragh and T'Pragh's two immediate predecessors, is elected. Her term extends from 2365 through 2368, so she is President during TNG S2-5.
2368 (TNG S5): Federation Councillor Jaresh-Inyo of Grazer is persuaded to run for President, is elected. His term commences in 2369 and extends through 2372, so he is President throughout TNG S6-7, DS9 S1-4, GEN, and VOY S1-2.
2372 (DS9 S4/VOY S2): Jaresh-Inyo up for re-election against Federation Councillor Min Zife of Bolarus, Betazed Governor Rel Obertag. Leyton coup attempt. Zife is elected President, and his term commences in 2373. He is re-elected in 2376, and resigns in 2379, making him President through DS9 S5-7, VOY S3-7, FC, and INS.
2379: Zife is forced to resign at gunpoint by Starfleet after they discover he ordered Starfleet to illegally invade and occupy the independent planet of Tezwa to cover up the fact that he violated the Khitomer Accords by arming the deposed Tezwan government with advanced UFP weapons during the Dominion War. After he resigns, Section 31 secretly assassinates him. (A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal, both by David Mack). Federation Councillor Ra'ch B'hully of Damiano is made President Pro Tempore for one standard month; special election called. Nanietta Bacco, Governor of Cestus III, runs against Federation Special Emissary Arafel "Fel" Pagro of Ktar. Pagro runs on a campaign of increased militancy, abrogating the Khitomer Accords, and severing the UFP's alliance with the Klingon Empire; Bacco runs on a campaign of increased diplomacy and preservation of the alliance. Bacco wins the election, but appoints Pagro as Federation Security Advisor. (A Time for War, A Time for Peace and Articles of the Federation, both by Keith R.A. DeCandido) Bacco is President during NEM, and spends the first year of her administration dealing with the Reman refugee crisis created by the rise and fall of Shinzon. The Romulan Star Empire itself is split in half when the Imperial Romulan State declares independence. (Articles of the Federation)
In 2381, 7,000 Borg cubes invade, bent on exterminating rather than assimilating every world in local space -- the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and every smaller world as well. The crews of the USS Enterprise, USS Titan, and USS Aventine are barely able to defeat the Borg threat, but the Collective is dissolved, the drones liberated, and most former Borg choose to leave the Milky Way Galaxy with a race knonw as the Caeliar. (Star Trek: Destiny series) In the wake of the Borg Invasion, a major political realignment occurs: the Romulan Star Empire, Breen Confederacy, Tzenkethi Coalition, Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly, and Holy Order of the Kinshaya ally to form the Typhon Pact; in response, the Federation and Klingon Empire open up the Khitomer Accords to new members. They initially court the Imperial Romulan State, but it is re-absorbed by the Star Empire at the same time that a progressive, diplomatic Praetor emerges. Due to Tholian manipulation of public opinion, Andor secedes from the Federation, but a movement to re-join remains quite strong. In the end, the Khitomer Alliance comes to include the Cardassian Union and the Ferengi Alliance. A cold war begins between the Typhon Pact and the Khitomer Alliance, but pro-diplomatic factions in both the UFP and RSE are able avert open warfare. (Typhon Pact series)
2384: Bacco's term was apparently temporarily extended by the Federation Council in the aftermath of the UFP surviving the invasion of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants by over 7,000 Borg cubes in 2381, but she runs for and wins re-election this year. (The Fall: Revelation and Dust by David R. George III)
2385: President Bacco is assassinated, and Federation Councillor Ishan Anjar of Bajor is made President Pro Tempore for two months. Ishan runs for President on a platform of bellicose militancy and isolationism far in excess of the Federation norm, apparently seeking open war with the Typhon Pact and to punish Andor for its secession. The anti-Federation faction is exposed for its manipulations and loses a vote of no-confidence in the Parliament Andoria, allowing the Andorian Progressive Caucus to form a new government and petition to rejoin the UFP in time for the special election. Member of the Parliament Andoria and Progressive Caucus Leader Kellessar zh'Tarash runs for President against Ishan on a platform of diplomacy and continuity with the late Bacco's policies. The crew of the USS Enterprise uncovers evidence that Ishan conspired to have Bacco assassinated; Ishan is arrested, a Vulcan named Sipak serves the remainder of the Pro Tempore term, and zh'Tarash is elected President. (The Fall miniseries)
2364 (TNG S1): Amitra of Pandril, Cabinet member for President T'Pragh and T'Pragh's two immediate predecessors, is elected. Her term extends from 2365 through 2368, so she is President during TNG S2-5.
2368 (TNG S5): Federation Councillor Jaresh-Inyo of Grazer is persuaded to run for President, is elected. His term commences in 2369 and extends through 2372, so he is President throughout TNG S6-7, DS9 S1-4, GEN, and VOY S1-2.
2372 (DS9 S4/VOY S2): Jaresh-Inyo up for re-election against Federation Councillor Min Zife of Bolarus, Betazed Governor Rel Obertag. Leyton coup attempt. Zife is elected President, and his term commences in 2373. He is re-elected in 2376, and resigns in 2379, making him President through DS9 S5-7, VOY S3-7, FC, and INS.
2379: Zife is forced to resign at gunpoint by Starfleet after they discover he ordered Starfleet to illegally invade and occupy the independent planet of Tezwa to cover up the fact that he violated the Khitomer Accords by arming the deposed Tezwan government with advanced UFP weapons during the Dominion War. After he resigns, Section 31 secretly assassinates him. (A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal, both by David Mack). Federation Councillor Ra'ch B'hully of Damiano is made President Pro Tempore for one standard month; special election called. Nanietta Bacco, Governor of Cestus III, runs against Federation Special Emissary Arafel "Fel" Pagro of Ktar. Pagro runs on a campaign of increased militancy, abrogating the Khitomer Accords, and severing the UFP's alliance with the Klingon Empire; Bacco runs on a campaign of increased diplomacy and preservation of the alliance. Bacco wins the election, but appoints Pagro as Federation Security Advisor. (A Time for War, A Time for Peace and Articles of the Federation, both by Keith R.A. DeCandido) Bacco is President during NEM, and spends the first year of her administration dealing with the Reman refugee crisis created by the rise and fall of Shinzon. The Romulan Star Empire itself is split in half when the Imperial Romulan State declares independence. (Articles of the Federation)
In 2381, 7,000 Borg cubes invade, bent on exterminating rather than assimilating every world in local space -- the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and every smaller world as well. The crews of the USS Enterprise, USS Titan, and USS Aventine are barely able to defeat the Borg threat, but the Collective is dissolved, the drones liberated, and most former Borg choose to leave the Milky Way Galaxy with a race knonw as the Caeliar. (Star Trek: Destiny series) In the wake of the Borg Invasion, a major political realignment occurs: the Romulan Star Empire, Breen Confederacy, Tzenkethi Coalition, Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly, and Holy Order of the Kinshaya ally to form the Typhon Pact; in response, the Federation and Klingon Empire open up the Khitomer Accords to new members. They initially court the Imperial Romulan State, but it is re-absorbed by the Star Empire at the same time that a progressive, diplomatic Praetor emerges. Due to Tholian manipulation of public opinion, Andor secedes from the Federation, but a movement to re-join remains quite strong. In the end, the Khitomer Alliance comes to include the Cardassian Union and the Ferengi Alliance. A cold war begins between the Typhon Pact and the Khitomer Alliance, but pro-diplomatic factions in both the UFP and RSE are able avert open warfare. (Typhon Pact series)
2384: Bacco's term was apparently temporarily extended by the Federation Council in the aftermath of the UFP surviving the invasion of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants by over 7,000 Borg cubes in 2381, but she runs for and wins re-election this year. (The Fall: Revelation and Dust by David R. George III)
2385: President Bacco is assassinated, and Federation Councillor Ishan Anjar of Bajor is made President Pro Tempore for two months. Ishan runs for President on a platform of bellicose militancy and isolationism far in excess of the Federation norm, apparently seeking open war with the Typhon Pact and to punish Andor for its secession. The anti-Federation faction is exposed for its manipulations and loses a vote of no-confidence in the Parliament Andoria, allowing the Andorian Progressive Caucus to form a new government and petition to rejoin the UFP in time for the special election. Member of the Parliament Andoria and Progressive Caucus Leader Kellessar zh'Tarash runs for President against Ishan on a platform of diplomacy and continuity with the late Bacco's policies. The crew of the USS Enterprise uncovers evidence that Ishan conspired to have Bacco assassinated; Ishan is arrested, a Vulcan named Sipak serves the remainder of the Pro Tempore term, and zh'Tarash is elected President. (The Fall miniseries)
Is the Romulan Free State an adversary? Obviously the Tal Shiar are still a threat, but I think there's good reason to view the RFS as much less belligerent than the RSE. They've allowed for the abolition of the Neutral Zone; they invited Federation scientists to participate in administering the Borg Reclamation Project aboard the Artifact, and even allowed Hugh, a Federation citizen, to serve as its Executive Director. We know from "Broken Pieces" that the Tal Shiar did not have legal carte blanche to seize control of RFS facilities the way it had enjoyed carte blanche to seize control of Romulan ships under the Star Empire.
Obviously the RFS may not be an ally, but that's not the same as it being an adversary.
Yep. His Rise of the Federation series establishes that:
- The Federation Council first convened after the ratification of the Articles of the Federation in 2161. The full Council is comprised of one Councillor for each of the five founding Member States (United Earth, the Confederacy of Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, the United Planets of Tellar, and the Alpha Centauri Concordium), popularly elected.
- Six months later (early 2162), the Council votes to create the office of President of the Federation Council, to act when the full Council cannot convene to make a decision. The Council elects Thomas Vanderbilt of United Earth as Council President.
- In 2162, the Parliament of the Confederated Martian Colonies votes for Mars to join the Federation as its sixth Member State.
- Eventually it is decided that there needs to be a fully-fledged executive branch and chief executive officer -- a popularly-elected President of the United Federation of Planets, to serve a four-year term. (It is unclear if this is done by regular statute or if the Articles of the Federation are amended.)
- The first Federation Presidential Election is held in 2164. The primary area of political disagreement is the division of power between the Federation government and the Member State governments, and two political parties emerge -- the Federalist Party and the Planetarist Party. Federation Councillor Haroun al-Rashid (F-Earth) runs against Federation Councillor Thoris (P-Andor), and the question of whether or not the United Rigel Worlds and Colonies should be accepted as the Federation's seventh Member State is a key area of disagreement.
Haroun al-Rashid is elected the first Federation President in October 2164 and takes office at the start of 2165.Eventually, driven by guilt, Thoris reveals that several key campaign advisers had, unbeknownst to him, been secretarly working for the Mafia-like First Families of Rigel, and that these advisers had persuaded him to manipulate Planetarist sympathizers by enflaming their xenophobia to win election. The Planetarist movement is discredited.
- The early UFP had what was called the Federation Commission, comprised of one commissioner elected from each Member State given a particular portfolio. It was the de facto Cabinet of the early Federation.
Well. I agree that the ultimate effect of outlawing political parties is that democracy cannot function, but that's not necessarily the same thing as the establishment of a dictatorship either. Governmental structures can evolve that are authoritarian without being dictatorial.
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