As long as the admission of Coridan to the Federation doesn't come up in conversation. The Tellarites and Vulcans seem to disagree on that issue.
As long as the admission of Coridan to the Federation doesn't come up in conversation. The Tellarites and Vulcans seem to disagree on that issue.
In my head canon the UFP is like the EU, and Starfleet is like NATO. It gets progressively more integrated as time goes on.
I see it more like the UN model myself, not the EU, although something like the current Shanghai Cooperation Organization might be even closer still. Really there is probably nothing structurally exactly like the UFP on Earth today or in our collective history.
I definitely don't feel it's the United States made large, with various species home systems substituting for our 50 states, and the federation council essentially being the US government. The federation itself isn't a "sovereign state."
A thought.
The 150 plus members that Picard spoke of always seemed small, so I think that in addition to admitting new members, the Federation also regularly loses members. This is what I think happen to the Tellarites between TOS and TNG, they canceled their membership and either went solo, or join a different interstellar organization.
In 2012, the prime minister of Turkey Erdogan said that he had discussed the possibility of abandoning Turkey's European Union membership candidacy in return for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. A exit from NATO would come with that.
Britain exited the EU, but will stay in NATO.
France left NATO in 1966, rejoined in 2009.
France didn't totally leave NATO. They no longer allowed foreign bases in France or participated in joint military exercises. But they still kept their treaty commitment to defend other NATO countries if they were attacked. And France honored that commitment and sent their troops to Afghanistan when the United States invoked the NATO treaty after 9/11.
Or perhaps it is 150 species homeworlds, and then their associated colony worlds. Some of which are also independent members (such as Mars or perhaps Alpha Centauri), but if Earth's number of colonies is even remotely close to average, the Federation has thousands of worlds under its influence via its member planet's.
Mmm ... I think more like the colonies would be under the authority of the member (or members) that founded them. And once independent of Earth I don't see a former colony automatically being a part of the federation or under it's influance, although it could continue to have a connection/relations with Earth.
After the federation had been in existance for a century we still heard of "Earth colonies." Picard in a early episode spoke of helping set up a colonies of Humans. And Tuvok was from a Vulcan colony, not a federation colony.
However I also remember hearing of federation colonies too, which perhaps are a separate type of colony from member colonies.
Okay, France mostly (near totally) left NATO.
I see colonization happening in stages in terms of Federation membership.
A member world wants to establish a new colony. Starfleet has presumably charted and surveyed the planet to be colonized. The effort is mounted using some Federation resources and some from the originating world (or worlds' if it's a joint effort.) The colony is established and becomes a Federation protectorate. The colony is overseen and protected by the Federation during its early stages.
Eventually, when the colony has achieved a measure of self-sustenance and industrial capacity such that it can survive and thrive on its own without external help, it may apply for full membership in the Federation provided it can pay its Federation dues, or taxes, or whatever. The petition is put to the Federation Council and a decision is made based on the merits of the case. Since some would undoubtedly try and take advantage of 'protectorate status' to enjoy the benefits of the Federation without paying in, there would be periodic reviews of a colony's status by a Federation agency. When they determined that the time was right, the colony would be given the choice of petitioning for regular membership in the UFP or going it alone, losing its Federation bennies.
As an alternative, say a group of people wants to found a colony independent of the Federation and have nothing to do with it. That's fine too, but they have to turn up the funding and resources on their own, get there on their own, and survive on their own. If they decide after X amount of time that going it alone is proving too rough, they can apply for protectorate status and Federation assistance. Once again, TPTB in the Federation review the case and make their decision based on the circumstances.
In any case it sort of ties back into what the Federation is and what its responsibilities are. It seems that the charting, survey, and colonization efforts undertaken in far-flung star systems are right in the Federation's wheel-house of interstellar regulation and responsibility. When you think about it, the colonization aspect of it would be one of the greatest advantages of Federation membership, particularly for member-species who aren't naturally inclined or physiologically adapted to space travel.
As a viewer you are supposed to be focused on Sarek and friends, but as a Trekkie you're supposed to notice everything from the color of the paint on the walls to the smallest costume detail.
Did you notice how strange the Tellarite ambassador's face looked? And I don't mean his pig shaped nose.
I don't know much about Tellarite anatomy, but what was the deal with the Tellarite ambassador's eyes? His eyes was so far sunken in the eye socket. It looked ridiculous. I don't know if that was intentional, or if it was just a terrible job by the make-up and costuming people. That mask was ill fitting.
There doesn't seem to be a one size fits all relationship between member states and the Federation.
In "Journey to Babel", Sarek told the Tellarite ambassador that he favored Coridan's admission because under Federation law, Coridan can be "protected and its wealth administered for the benefit of its people". He also mentioned that Coridan was under populated and thus unable to defend themselves. Apparently, after it becomes a member, Coridan would cede a lot of its sovereignty to the Federation. It would be dependent in a lot of ways on the Fed.
This would be in contrast to the Vulcans. From what I have seen, the Vulcans strongly guard their sovereignty and relative independence from the Feds, even though they themselves are members of the Federation. Kirk mentioned in "Amok Time" that Tpau was the only person to ever turn down a seat on the Federation Council. In the ep "Unification", it was clear that Vulcan had their own defense force.
Vulcan is to the Federation/Starfleet what France (from the 1960s to 2000s) was to NATO. They are in it, but quite independent of it at the same time.
And Earth appears to be the dominant member of the Federation, or at least of Starfleet.
Like Vulcan and Earth, each Federation member probably has developed its own term of relationship with the Federation.
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It was better than the version we saw in "Whom Gods Destroy".
It was better than the version we saw in "Whom Gods Destroy".
Another casualty of the 3rd season budget war, as was the Andorian wearing the orange, fluffy neck warmer-thingy.
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Better than the verison seen on ST: Enterprise too.It was better than the version we saw in "Whom Gods Destroy".
Sarek line (to me) says that once protected by starfleet as a member, the Coridan people would then be in a position to control the wealth generated by it's dilithium natural resources.
I don't see the line meaning that the federation would basically takeover the Coridan economy, or control the distribution of the wealth.
