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How is the naming relevant to anything? The President of Venezuela always was a mighty man in his country, not "ceremonial" but a veritable sovereign who dictated all policy - yet naming him only happened after Hugo Chavez got elected and made his country bigger than it is. In contrast, many US presidents no doubt spent their terms in office in obscurity, as viewed from just about anywhere else in the world; this changed when the US began to matter, not due to any change in the hierarchical powers of the PotUS.
Just for the curiosity factor, Finland actually used to have a setup like France, with the President as the de facto head of the government (despite there also existing a separate Prime Minister). We really wanted a king originally, so the legislation reflected that. Germany, Italy and Ireland lie on one side of that particular line, the US, France and Finland on the other. Or did - Finland eloped to the ceremonial camp a couple of presidents ago, just in time to emasculate the first female President...
While in English the Federation's governing body leader is "president," in the various languages of the Federation's many members it could be otherwise. President, great father (mother), chancellor, "leader," chieftain, supervisor.
I wonder if after a election has taken place, but before there has been a transfer of power, if the Federation President is referred to as "The Dead Body?"
Star Trek TV shows and movies have never gone into much detail about civilian leadership in the Federation. I don't know if the novels go into more detail, but in the TV shows it seems like decisions about policy on any given planet is driven by local government within certain guidelines established by the Federation such as 'No slavery', 'No class oppression', etc. Then decisions about military, governing of shared resources, foreign relations and so on are made at the Federal level.
It makes sense for local planetary issues to be dealt with by the planetary government. Admiral Leyton expressed the right sentiment in this dialogue from "Homefront":
ODO: We could talk to the President again.
LEYTON: I'm afraid that would be a waste of time. Jaresh-Inyo would be a fine president in peacetime, but we have a war on our hands. He doesn't seem to understand that. All he cares about is not upsetting people. But humans are tougher than he thinks. We've created a paradise here and we're willing to fight to protect it.
SISKO: And you think the President isn't willing to fight?
LEYTON: I think the President is a long way from home. This isn't his world. We can't expect him to care about it the way we do.
No foreigner, generally, would be as knowledgeable or as caring about a place as a local/native resident would.
But where were Earth's leaders and government in "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost"?
It was the Federation President who officially declared the state of emergency on Earth that led to martial law on the planet. Also in ST4, it was the Fed President who issued Earth's planetary distress call. Did Earth give up its sovereignty to the Federation as a trade off for the Federation headquarters to be located on Earth?
Or then the Earth Prez just told the Fed Prez "Go right ahead, send that call, the bigger the boss making it the merrier".
As for martial law, it might well be that the federal government has to agree to such a drastic measure, at which point it becomes pretty much irrelevant which President actually issues the statement that the state of emergency has been declared. For all we know, Leyton was the President of Earth in addition to his other jobs, and just went to the federal level for the necessary permits!
^ No, Earth is just another Federation member world. It has no special status.
@velour: There was going to be a scene in Homefront/Paradise Lost when Jaresh-Inyo "federalizes" local Earth forces to deal with the crisis, but it got cut for time.
And I do grant that Jaresh-Inyo was kind of a milquetoast, but there's no reason to think he would care any less about Earth just because he's not FROM Earth. Hell, he's not even the first non-human president the Federation has had. Would you say Ra-ghoratreii (the prez from ST VI) didn't care about Earth? I don't think you would.
That simply doesn't sound right. Riker in NEM said that Earth was what was holding the Federation together, destroy Earth and the Federation would come apart. That doesn't sound like just another planet with no special status.
Certainly in the 24th century, Earth is different and special.
Leyton knew that the government of Earth wouldn't be the clueless push over that the Fed Prez was, so he when directly for the weakest link.
That simply doesn't sound right. Riker in NEM said that Earth was what was holding the Federation together, destroy Earth and the Federation would come apart. That doesn't sound like just another planet with no special status.
Certainly in the 24th century, Earth is different and special.
Leyton knew that the government of Earth wouldn't be the clueless push over that the Fed Prez was, so he when directly for the weakest link.
That simply doesn't sound right. Riker in NEM said that Earth was what was holding the Federation together, destroy Earth and the Federation would come apart. That doesn't sound like just another planet with no special status.
Certainly in the 24th century, Earth is different and special.
Earth is a founding member and the Federation's seat of power is in Paris. However I think Riker was having an American 24th century version of the universe revolves around us moment. The British use to have back in the day and look what happened to them lol
Canonically, we only know the broad outlines: We know from "Errand of Mercy" that it is a democracy. We know from numerous episodes that there is a Federation Council, and we know from TNG's "Force of Nature" that it has legislative authority over the entire UFP. We know from Star Trek IV, Star Trek VI, and from DS9's "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" that there is a Federation President with executive authority who is commander-in-chief and sets foreign policy. We know from DS9's "Extreme Measures" that Federation Presidents have a cabinet. We know from TNG's "The Drumhead" that there is a Federation Constitution which enumerates a set of rights guaranteed to all sentient beings, and we know from "The Perfect Mate" that that Constitution and those rights apply to all sentient beings in Federation territory and aboard Federation ships. We know from DS9's "Dr. Bashir, I Presume?" that there is a Federation Supreme Court with the power of judicial review, and we know from DS9's "The Ascent" that there is a Federation judicial system that includes grand juries. And we know from numerous episodes that there is a well-developed Federation bureaucracy for numerous specialities.
We know the Fedeation has elections, but are there political parties? Does the Federation avoid partisanship?
God I hope so. People may not like them, but political parties are essential to the ability of a democracy to function. As Matthew Yglesias wrote at Vox when discussing the European Union, "To save itself, the European Union is going to need a real opposition political party: one that can formulate a coherent alternate policy agenda and give dissatisfied voters the opportunity to “throw the bums out” without tearing down the entire institutional edifice they inhabit.... The notion of a 'loyal opposition' is in many ways the key innovation in the institutionalization of democracy. The idea is that an organized political movement may object stridently to the agenda of the current governing regime without being seen as disloyal to the state or the nation. This means that incumbent rulers face meaningful electoral accountability. If voters are displeased with their performance, a rival team waits in the wings ready and eager to take over."
And indeed, democratic republics that attempt to do away with political parties inevitably either revert back to them (the United States during the Era of Good Feelings), or devolve into dictatorships like the Republic of Uganda under Yoweri Museveni. Political parties are essential for democracy to function.
What policy differences are there between candidates in a uptoian society like the Federation?
It's hard to say what kinds of differences we might see over domestic policy in a society that exists in what almost amounts to a state of abundance. Realistically speaking, I imagine that even a society that has ended poverty and suffering is probably going to have a loose class system -- nothing like ours, but there would probably still be a "lower class" with living standards akin to what we consider today to be comfortable middle class, and an "upper class" with living standards like our wealthy elite. And if that's the case, we might still see class conflict between these upper and lower classes, but it would probably be nothing like the class conflicts we see today -- nowhere near as brutal. Of course, if we really wanna go with the UFP as a pseudo-utopian society, they may not even have that kind of class division.
I imagine in a lot of ways, the main divisions in Federation politics would be over foreign policy, though. Do you maintain an alliance with the Klingon Empire, in spite of their imperialism and their dictatorship? Do you keep up the embargo on Romulan goods? How do you occupy and rebuild Cardassia post-Dominion War? What do you do about the Dominion forces still in the Gamma Quadrant? What regions of space do you send starships to explore? What kinds of worlds do you allow to join as Federation Member States? Etc.
How does the Federation avoid the pitfalls of modern Democracies?
On such flimsy evidence, it's difficult to argue for or against the existence of political parties, or specieist parties, or planetary parties. We never hear anybody campaign for getting elected. We never hear anybody express support for or opposition to a candidate. Nobody ever votes on screen, or tells of voting.
So at best we can go by the novels. And they don't do anything fancy: the UFP is essentially a generic Western democracy in space, with many details gleaned from the US model specifically.
Well, that's an oversimplification. The novels have actually established a fairly interesting governmental model for the Federation with some important differences from the U.S. model.
Essentially, the novels' model is this:
The Federation President is popularly elected by universal adult suffrage. Candidates for the Presidency are approved by the Federation Council based on whether they meet the criteria (no details on what the criteria are). The President sets foreign policy, and is commander-in-chief of all Federation forces, including Starfleet. The President appoints a cabinet consisting of secretaries of various departments -- the Secretary of the Exterior for foreign policy, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Technology, the Secretary of Commerce, etc. When a new President takes office, all sitting Federation ambassadors tender their resignations by tradition, allowing the new President to re-appoint those he/she wants to retain or to appoint new ones as he/she sees fit. The President serves a four-year term, and can run for an unlimited number of terms, but no President has ever served more than three full terms.
If a President dies or resigns during his/her term, the Federation Council appoints from amongst its members a Federation President Pro Tempore, who serves for two standard months (originally one standard month before this was changed by statute) while a special election is called. The new President then starts a new term rather than merely completing the prior term.
The Federation Council consists of one individual chosen for each Federation Member State, by whatever particular method that Member State so chooses. So, for instance, the Federation Councillor for United Earth is popularly elected, while the Federation Councillor for the Andorian Empire is appointed by the President of the Parliament Andoria as part of his/her cabinet, and the Federation Councillor for the Third Republic of Bajor is appointed by the First Minister with the confirmation of the Chamber of Ministers.
The Federation Council meets on Earth and has a number of committees in various fields, referred to as sub-councils. So the committee dealing with science and technology is the Federation Science Council, the committee dealing with espionage is the Federation Intelligence Council, and the committee dealing with defense is the Federation Security Council.
The Federation President presides over sessions of the full Federation Council, and appoints from the Council the members of the various sub-councils, with the full Council's confirmation. (For the Federation Security Council, the Federation Councillors for the five founding Member States -- United Earth, the Confederacy of Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, the United Planets of Tellar, and the Alpha Centauri Concordium, are automatically appointed, with the President appointing the rest. This is a holdover from the Federation's earliest days.) The President has the option to, but is not required to, preside over sessions of the sub-councils; Presidents over preside over sessions of the Federation Security Council. In general, the Federation President works much more closely with the Council than would be seen in the U.S. presidential system -- but he/she doesn't outright control all committee appointments and legislation like a Prime Minister might, since the Council retains a lot of independence from the President.
Acts of Council are subject to veto by the President.
I mean, if the Federation Starfleet is basically just the United States Navy in space, I don't see how this is all that much different. The basic creative conceit of Star Trek is that other cultures that are part of the Federation have usually arrived at something akin to Western classical liberalism as the most enlightened and evolved way for a society to function -- convergent evolution.
I believe you are thinking of Tales of the Dominion War's short story "Eleven Hours Out." In that short story, the Federation President joins the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of United Earth in touring San Francisco after the Breen attack in 2375.
It would be a bit limiting for an individual to be represented solely through his species or his planet of residence, rather than through a group of like-minded folks, but that's what we do today, too: you don't get to decide on French affairs without being French, or on Milanese affairs without living in Milan.
Well, of course not, because laws by definition can only have territorial-based jurisdiction. It's not like you can pass a law that only, say, Methodists have to follow but which all Methodists everywhere have to follow.
It seems pretty clear that representation in the Federation Council is based upon your Federation Member State, same way you, say, get represented in the German Bundestag based on your constituency or in the U.S. Senate based upon your state.
Although you can change your nationality today, whilst it might be a bit more difficult to change your species even in Trek.
I imagine you can move from one Federation Member State to another and receive your representation through your new world's Councill. I can't imagine a Vulcan who moves from ShiKahr to Beijing is still required to vote in the election for the Federation Councillor for the Confederacy of Vulcan; of course she would be eligible to vote for Federation Councillor for United Earth.
Of course, Trek could do all sorts of scifi things without being "inhuman". Direct democracy, say, where everybody can and often will vote on everything constantly, much like we do social media today, with mobile communications devices and a couple of decisionmaking-helping or auto-voting apps to help us along.
Never work. Attempts to run complex social structures along consistently direct popular vote lines inevitably collapse into disorder and gridlock. Just ask the Occupy movement.
The president in question is basically an alien spy who gained the presidency under false pretenses. And you'll notice that after his true identity is discovered, he's quickly taken out.
So if the intention is that Federation politics in general, is anything like that president, I would say that's not true.
It's not that he was a spy. He had no intention of exposing classified Federation information to foreign powers. It's that Baras cut a deal with a foreign terrorist organization for them to assassinate the sitting President on his behalf, so he could become President Pro Tempore and run for a full term himself on a nationalist, hawkish ticket, and in return he would withdraw Federation forces from Cardassia and allow the Cardassian fascist movement to seize power. And he then seized upon the Andorians as a scapegoat he could target as a demagogue.
True but he deals with the Andorian situation like a demagogue, if he was not exposed they would have kept him in office. So he still got elected due to fear tactics.
No. He was President Pro Tempore, and was seized upon the Andorians to use as a scapegoat in his campaign for a full term -- but it is unclear if he would have won had he not been exposed. We never got a sense of where he stood in public opinion polls, IIRC.
Another TOS novel explains it was due to corruption why the Cloud dwellers got into the Federation.
I agree -- but I also think the Federation would never elect a demagogue.
And it sound like just such a leader was in place at the end of the Romulan War, because the Romulan Neutral Zone was put in place. And if the Romulan were forced to pay for it, so much the better.
A neutral zone along a border with a hostile foreign power you have just had a war with is completely different from an attempt to stop undocumented immigration from a country with which your nation is at peace, and whose undocumented emigrants to your country form a significant portion of your exploited labor class.
Good leadership.Influanced by 1970's fan fiction, I like the idea of Vulcan being lead by a informal council of families (or clans), instead of a formal elected planetary governments. Also there's the possibility (from The Final Frontier) that Vulcan has a ruling royal family.That's where "creative" (or the lack of ) comes in.
In terms of the legislature electing the president -- that tends to happen in parliamentary republics rather than in systems where the president has meaningful executive power. The one big exception to that rule is the Republic of South Africa -- and that's because the South African Presidency basically evolved from the former Union of South Africa's prime ministership, back when they were part of the Commonwealth. So I find it improbable that such an outlier, with its evolutionary origins in an apartheid state, would be something that a more enlightened government would want to emulate.
While in English the Federation's governing body leader is "president," in the various languages of the Federation's many members it could be otherwise. President, great father (mother), chancellor, "leader," chieftain, supervisor.
Given that "president" basically comes from presiding over something, I think it is most intuitive that the local language uses whatever term for "he/she who presides over something" that language might have.
It makes sense for local planetary issues to be dealt with by the planetary government. Admiral Leyton expressed the right sentiment in this dialogue from "Homefront":
ODO: We could talk to the President again.
LEYTON: I'm afraid that would be a waste of time. Jaresh-Inyo would be a fine president in peacetime, but we have a war on our hands. He doesn't seem to understand that. All he cares about is not upsetting people. But humans are tougher than he thinks. We've created a paradise here and we're willing to fight to protect it.
SISKO: And you think the President isn't willing to fight?
LEYTON: I think the President is a long way from home. This isn't his world. We can't expect him to care about it the way we do.
Uh, the entire point of that scene was that Leyton was appealing to irrational feelings of alienation from Jaresh-Inyo to manipulate Sisko into supporting authoritarian measures so that he could launch a coup d'etat and appoint himself military dictator of the Federation. He did not express the right sentiment there -- he expressed bigoted, authoritarian sentiment.
It's fine to say that local issues should be handled by local authorities. Federalism's cool. In fact, it's inherent to the Federation by virtue of its very name. But Leyon is not the guy you wanna cite there.
But where were Earth's leaders and government in "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost"?
Where was the Premier of Quebec during the October Crisis?
It was the Federation President who officially declared the state of emergency on Earth that led to martial law on the planet. Also in ST4, it was the Fed President who issued Earth's planetary distress call. Did Earth give up its sovereignty to the Federation as a trade off for the Federation headquarters to be located on Earth?
I see no reason to think that. It's just as likely that, just like the Prime Minister of Canada has the right to declare a state of emergency and put the Canadian Forces on the streets in a given Canadian province, the Federation President has the right to declare a state of emergency and put Starfleet on the streets on a Federation world.
That simply doesn't sound right. Riker in NEM said that Earth was what was holding the Federation together, destroy Earth and the Federation would come apart. That doesn't sound like just another planet with no special status.
Certainly in the 24th century, Earth is different and special.
You can have shows and movies set in modern times (including ones featuring the military) that rarely if ever mention Washington DC. In Star Trek, Earth gets mentioned a lot.
Earth does seem to be the main support pillar of the entire Federation.
Compare this to the show Andromeda, where before the fall of the Commonwealth, Earth was a basically a backwater planet.
You can have shows and movies set in modern times (including ones featuring the military) that rarely if ever mention Washington DC. In Star Trek, Earth gets mentioned a lot.
Earth does seem to be the main support pillar of the entire Federation.
Compare this to the show Andromeda, where before the fall of the Commonwealth, Earth was a basically a backwater planet.
Maybe? But that's not the same thing as Earth having a separate legal status from other Federation Member States. There's no evidence that United Earth is not a Federation Member the same as everyone else, with representation on the Federation Council the same as everyone else, and with its own government the same as everyone else.
We hear a lot about how the destruction of Earth could be the destruction of the Federation, but I think a sudden destruction of Earth in the 24th Century would be an existential threat to the UFP not so much because Earth is special in itself, as because the sudden deaths of all or most constitutional officers of the government would throw the UFP into chaos. Who's the legitimate President and who is a legitimate Federation Councillor when the President and Cabinet and Council are all dead?
So if, for instance, Shinzon had succeeded in using the thalaron weapon to exterminate all life on Earth, but the Federation government had received enough warning in time to escape, I don't think that would have been an existential threat to the entire UFP.
In a episode of DS9, didn't Admiral Ross say that Bajor would have to select representatives? Representatives meaning more than one?
That is one way to interpret his line. But it's ambiguous, and the owners of the Star Trek copyright decided they were okay with novels that depict it as one-councillor-per-member.
(Personally, I don't like that idea -- or if they do have that, I would hope that that is accompanied by a floor and a ceiling for how large and small a Federation Member State's population can get, to keep inequality of populations from getting too high. Personally, I would prefer a system whereby each Member State gets multiple Councillors based on their population, with each Councillor representing a roughly equal number of constituents. But in fairness, when we're talking constituent populations in the billions, there's a fair argument to be made that at that level, inequality of populations represented may not always be super-important anymore.)
Perhaps the line about "representatives" (plural) refers to one rep being the main one for the job, and another as backup in case the primary one dies or is otherwise incapacitated?
It's surely impossible for an individual to get a "sense" of democracy when the President is elected in a scenario when planets with populations of billions/millions of people function as states would in America. At least when it comes to Presidential elections. Most Federation citizens are probably totally indifferent to Presidential politics. It's would be an obscure concern for most IMO.
It's surely impossible for an individual to get a "sense" of democracy when the President is elected in a scenario when planets with populations of billions/millions of people function as states would in America. At least when it comes to Presidential elections. Most Federation citizens are probably totally indifferent to Presidential politics. It's would be an obscure concern for most IMO.
I don't disagree with the idea that Member State politics would probably be more important on a day-to-day basis -- a resident of Mogadishu is probably more concerned with the activities of his/her Members of the Parliament of United Earth and the Prime Minister of United Earth most of the time. (Or insert whatever governmental offices you'd prefer; the novels have United Earth as possessing a Parliament and Prime Minister.) But I dare say that when it comes to things that really are important, like matters of interstellar war and peace, Federation citizenry are probably very concerned and active, and aware of what their Federation Councillors and the Federation President are doing.
Perhaps the line about "representatives" (plural) refers to one rep being the main one for the job, and another as backup in case the primary one dies or is otherwise incapacitated?
Or then Bajor has to choose representatives from now on, one after another. But Whatley's "to do list" is no doubt intended to reflect things to be done right there and then, that is, right after membeship approval, and interpreting it as ambiguous would take a bit of work.
Work well worth the while, of course, if another piece of canon indicated that each member only gets one representative. But we never saw a representative, so we can't tell much!
We lack a clear picture of the voting processes of the Federation, but we do hear of an "one member/planet/culture, one vote" arrangement in "Journey to Babel". Yet that's in a special situation not involving the UFP Council but some sort of a special conference, and Vulcan might be a special case anyway, a political party in its own right while no other planet votes as a single block. Intriguingly, furthermore, while the TOS episode may conceptually speak of the Vulcan vote, it's actually just Sarek's personal vote that actually appears in the dialogue. And there's no corresponding "Tellarite vote" or "Andorian vote" in evidence, either...
Perhaps the line about "representatives" (plural) refers to one rep being the main one for the job, and another as backup in case the primary one dies or is otherwise incapacitated?
I assume there are various agencies, departments, ministries -- or whatever they are called -- within the Federation bureaucracy. Maybe Bajorans, like any other Fed member, are entitled to have their own representation in some or all of those various agencies.
The Admiral might have been referring to sending representatives to all of the Federation bureaucracy and not just representation to the Federation Council.
Then why say "Federation Council Members have to be chosen"?
At best, we might take Whatley's words as saying that there has to be a member for each of the various organs going by the name Council, even if there's a one-planet-one-representative-one-vote system in the Exalted High Council Supreme.
...Or that Bajor has to send assorted monkeys for the Council to ogle, "representing" Bajor so that the planet can be judged...
That would be a big incentive for the sort of colonizing we see: twelve-people settlements on a hundred worlds just for the purpose of grabbing votes!
But the idea that a planet would be a voting block is still pretty iffy. What would be the point? People on a given planet want a say on the affairs of that planet, and if they only have a single vote, then they have no say - they can't take any of their grievances to a higher level.
If they OTOH want a say in galactic affairs, they would be interested in forming galactic alliances and parties, and again they would have poor opportunities for choosing the sort of party they really want if they only have one voice.
