Federation politics

[Thobu]

Hey all.

I was recently re-reading Articles of the Federation by Keith R. A. Decandidio (a really great book btw) and while it gives a lot of insight into how politics would work in such a widespread culture, it left me with a few questions.

Firstly, considering the days/weeks of travel time that might be required, how would councillors be able to be at council meetings and also be available back home for surgeries?
I get that they could maybe use holocomms for one or the other, but how would it work without them?

 

[danellis]

Presumably, the Federation council would NOT stand on a day-to-day basis, but would be called/summoned at set frequencies, in much the same way as the English Parliament didn't originally stand every day (though I'm sure it would stand for set periods, rather than at the whim of the ruler!)

dJE

 

[Thobu]

Would a dual representative system potentially work?
One rep attends council meetings along with any other council/government related work, and the other is the local rep, staying on their home planet so as to be accessible to their constituents.

 

[Thobu]

Out of interest, how does the US handle it? Do they have daily council meetings?

 

[dupersuper]

Firstly, considering the days/weeks of travel time that might be required, how would councilors be able to be at council meetings and also be available back home for surgeries?

I'm sure they have doctors available on Earth for council members...

 

[Henoch]

I'm sure they have doctors available on Earth for council members...

...or their own doctor on their staff.

 

[at Quark's]

Supposing that there would be extended travel times involved, I would imagine a kind of system slightly similar to how these things were organised in earlier centuries here on earth, back when travel to the capital would take a few days. So you'd probably get longer assemblies of a few weeks, say, twice per year, or so, and then several months without any meeting (or only by telecommunication).

 

[Oddish]

It gets extra-problematic when you realize that the Federation is supposedly 8000 LY across. According to Voyager canon, that's an eight-year journey.

 

[Citiprime]

It gets extra-problematic when you realize that the Federation is supposedly 8000 LY across. According to Voyager canon, that's an eight-year journey.

Given the distances involved, I would have to imagine it operated similar to how something like Congress did in the 19th century where the travel time to Washington had to be a factor for members, and only in session for a set period.

The only problem with that is the franchise has many episodes where Starfleet admirals say "the council" has reacted to some crisis going on in an episode, implying the Federation Council is able to make judgments on short notice about issues that crop up.

The only way that could work is either member states have permanent representatives on Earth that consult with their homeworlds by subspace, or there's proxy voting.

I've wondered how an election would happen across the Federation.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Would a dual representative system potentially work?
One rep attends council meetings along with any other council/government related work, and the other is the local rep, staying on their home planet so as to be accessible to their constituents.

DS9 Rapture.

WHATLEY: Not sorry enough to return my comm. signals. All three of them. That could get an officer in a lot of trouble. Look, Ben, I need to know that I can count on you. Now, Bajor's admission is only the beginning. Now comes the hard part. Federation council members have to be chosen, the Bajoran militia has to be absorbed into Starfleet. There are thousands of details that have to be overseen and you're our point man here. That means we need to depend on you more than ever.

"Chosen".

No elections.

(Cough-ommunism!)

 

[Thobu]

I'm sure they have doctors available on Earth for council members...

I'm not sure what other nations call them, but here in Britain, 'surgery' is the official office hours, usually once a week, when that areas representative is available for the public to meet with them and raise concerns.

Maybe 'chosen' in this context meant elected, chosen by the public?

I get the feeling from several episodes that council sessions are very regular or daily.

 

[Guy Gardener]

UN Ambassadors are not elected.

It's a similar job.

 

[at Quark's]

Assuming they have perfectly immersive holographic communications that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing (unlike our current webcam meetings), why would the council actually need to meet in person? (Well, perhaps to ensure that no-one can hack into those meetings, but we all know that ensuring security and privacy never has been high on Starfleet's (and presumably the Federation's) list of priorities ...)

 

[Thobu]

I'm not sure that the Federation council would be the same as UN ambassadors, as the Federation is a federal entity like the US, hence the council are the elected lawmakers.
Holocomms could work for those members within subspace comm range (which seems to change a lot between various episodes, but it wouldn't work for planets outside of real-time comm range.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Assuming they have perfectly immersive holographic communications that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing (unlike our current webcam meetings), why would the council actually need to meet in person? (Well, perhaps to ensure that no-one can hack into those meetings, but we all know that ensuring security and privacy never has been high on Starfleet's (and presumably the Federation's) list of priorities ...)

They don't.

It sometimes took Kirk weeks to send his logs back to Earth.

Later when the tech improved, you got to worry about tradition and hacking.

 

[at Quark's]

They don't.

It sometimes took Kirk weeks to send his logs back to Earth.

Later when the tech improved, you got to worry about tradition and hacking.

In that case I would assume the situation to be not fundamentally different from, say, New Zealand being a part of the British Empire in the 19th century. It must have had a 'daily' representation in London too, but even the fastest way of communication would have involved weeks or even months.

 

[Jedi Marso]

One the Federation is large enough, I'd imagine a tiered system in which the Federation is cut up into sectors, and there are Federation Councils at different levels to handle 'local' governance. Say, system A has a beef with system B, so the local council handles it. Then there is a problem between the Federation and the Klingon Empire- that is something that affects the whole Federation, so THE Federation Council (the top tier one) handles that.

The location of the top Federation Council would likely be somewhere near the astronomical center of the Federation. The sector councils would be located in relatively neutral areas near the center of their sectors, perhaps even on large space stations or habitats in the interest of neutrality and accommodating life forms with different environmental requirements.

So essentially, the Federation would divide into national and local governments for ease of governance and relevance to a certain area- the idea that the government which governs most locally, governs best.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A member world is an origin point for many colony worlds, depending on how long they have been in space.

 

[Thobu]

The location of the top Federation Council would likely be somewhere near the astronomical center of the Federation.

Indeed it is. It's in the Palais de la Concorde in Paris.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

By the time of the 24th Century, there are Hyper Subspace communications that have real time video conferencing across the galaxy thanks to Voyager & Reginald Barclay.