So is Starfleet General Order Number One 'blanket non-interference' or does a large set of criteria exist that determines each 'violation' on a case-by-case basis?
My take (the short version): The latter.
Has to be.
As far as I'm aware, the canon provides no such exacting criteria. The PD is never
really well defined. But looking at what we do know, I think it's got to be a case-by-case thing, and that the rule isn't anywhere near "blanket non-interference" to begin with.
My take (the long version): For a regulation called "General Order Number One", Starfleet sure doesn't hammer its officers very hard for violating it. This would indicate that circumstances and results play a large role in how Starfleet determines just what should be done to someone who violates the thing.
And as for what it's even supposed to be in the first place, that's not well defined either. We have stuff like the ever controversial "Homeward", in which the PD is said to advocate letting the primitive species die rather than risk any kind of cultural contamination (or, let the primitive species die because "it's none of our business." Nature is destroying them; who are we to disagree? That kind of thing).
Now, I can understand that the UFP does not want Starfleet to be a galactic nanny. They are not going to go actively seek out every stone- or bronze-age civilization being threatened by some natural catastrophe and save them.
But, in "Homeward", they had a relatively easy-to-implement method before them to save at least
some of them (though, as far as we could tell, not all that many... possibly not even enough to effectively continue the species. This ep was full of problems, really) with minimal risk of real contamination, and they didn't want to use it. They only did once Nikolai forced their hand.
The problem that I see with that idea is that it's a value judgment. They try to couch it as "We're completely neutral; we're just letting things run their course." And part of the justification for that is that
who the hell knows what that civilization will do in 50, 100, 200 years if we save them? How do we know it's the right thing in the larger scope? Well, you don't know. But not saving them when you easily can is a CHOICE, and "we're just neutral" is a cop out. Again, I would stress that I'm referring only to situations such as the one in "Homeward". Starfleet should not be expected to try and save every last threatened civilization they come across. But there ARE times when they could render help without much trouble, and when they don't, it's a value judgment.
Think about it: when a spacefaring civilization asks for help, they give it. Freely, willingly. We have almost never seen them say no. Even the Romulans can count on assistance from a UFP starship, if one happens to be nearby when something crazy happens. What about a species that achieved warp drive, say, five years ago? They are still developing their "persona" as participants in galactic affairs. Who knows what they will do in ten or fifty years? Yet the Federation wouldn't refuse to help them on that basis. What are they going to do? Get a distress call, and respond with "We may be on our way to help you within the hour. We're just waiting for the office of Cultural Relations to run a background check on your species."?
If you are going to render aid to those who ask, you cannot blanketly refuse to EVER render aid to those who are incapable of asking for it. Yet the basic reason for the existence of the PD is sound, and besides, as mentioned, the UFP cannot devote all of its resources to flying around looking for pre-warp civilizations in distress. So cultural contamination should be avoided if at all possible. And I would even say that there are cases where - if aid cannot be rendered without contamination - then aid should not be rendered. Mainly, this is in cases where the catastrophe won't wipe out their ENTIRE species. Sure, it will make things rough, but if they can survive it on their own, they should.
Most of what I've said applies to natural disasters. If they fly up to a planet and see two societies fighting a war that has the potential to wipe them out... it sucks, but how can you interfere directly? Do you take sides? That doesn't seem like a good idea at all. At most, I could see doing something to prevent a particularly horrific event (say, a nuclear weapon being detonated, which would not only kill millions but cause the other nation to retaliate, which would kill millions more and cause a
third nation to bring out their nukes, etc etc) if it can be done without exposing themselves directly. But to just fly in, phaser the missile out of the sky, then open up a channel, telling the civilization to make love, not war... that would be going too far.
So there
are times when you see suffering and death, and cannot do anything about it. To assume you could just use your badass tech and knowledge and solve any social, political, or environmental problem you come across would, in itself, be a dangerous attitude for Starfleet and the UFP to have. Yet simply saying that they will "not interfere" in ANY goings-on involving less advanced species does not fit well with their willingness to give all manner of assistance to those they encounter in space.
That said, when you are
not talking about any kind of disaster or crisis - you come upon a populated world, and as far as your sensors can tell, everything is just dandy - having FTL travel be the cutoff point makes sense. Warp-capable, you can talk to them. If not, just keep moving. Whether or not one agrees that the possibility of the species facing extinction is enough reason to warrant cultural contamination, Starfleet officers certainly shouldn't be making direct contact with pre-warp civilizations without a damned good reason.
One last thing: The Klingon Civil War in "Redemption" is a unique case, since it was a conflict internal to an entirely separate, sovereign nation. Starfleet and the UFP did exactly what they should have done in that case: take steps to protect their own interests, and expose the external interference coming from the Romulans, but not interfere in the core Gowron vs. Duras conflict, essentially saying "You need to work this out yourselves."
Told ya it was the long version.
