Question about UFP Government

[chrinFinity]

I need a Federation politics wonk to sort me out on something.

I have a particular situation in mind, but I won't elaborate on it to the degree that it would qualify as a story idea. What I need to know is, under a particular set of circumstances, which ministry, department, or office of the UFP government would be the ones likely to respond, and at what level of seniority.

Very generally, if a prominent well-publicized event takes place in the Federation, like an international tournament or competition, and it is state-sponsored, but run by an organization outside the government... If that event were to unintentionally fuck up the protocol of a foreign power, or non-aligned world, or even a Fed member, in an embarrassing flub such as showing the wrong flag, using the wrong language, or playing the wrong national anthem...

My question is, in such a situation, who and where in the bureaucratic hierarchicy of the UFP gov't is likely to be the office that originates the angry memo to the event organizers stressing the importance of getting it right, and encouraging them not to mess up similarly in future?

I feel like if it were America, State Dept might issue a statement or something, but I'm not even sure that's true nor do I have clarity on how it works in the Federation.

 

[chrinFinity]

Any assistance or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Have you read Articles of the Federation, by KRAD? It has a lot of material pertaining to your questions.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Hmm, interesting question. It's just a guess, but if the incident was with a foreign power or a non-aligned world, then maybe the Federation Department of the Exterior?

But I'm not sure who would handle it if the incident was with a Federation member.

 

[Sci]

To answer this question, I think you've got to clarify whether this organization is an agency of the Federation government or is a non-governmental organization (NGO). If, for instance, you're talking about the equivalent of the Olympics, for instance? Well, the International Olympic Committee is a Swiss NGO. So nobody would hold the Swiss government responsible for it, but the IOC would probably receive stern reactions from the Swiss Foreign Ministry as well as from foreign ministries around the world. So you might expect to see this interstellar NGO get stern communications from the Federation government and from all sorts of non-UFP governments.

If, on the other hand, the organization is itself an agency of the UFP government, then I imagine its leaders would be answering to the Federation's sports and foreign ministries, or even to a committee of the Federation Council.

The Federation's foreign ministry is called the Federation Department of the Exterior, as Avro Arrow noted. The last known Federation Secretary of the Exterior was Safranski of the United Rigel Worlds and Colonies, a male Zami. He was appointed to the position by President Nannietta Bacco of Cestus, and continued to serve during the interim administration of President Pro Tempore Ishan Anjar of the Third Republic of Bajor, in spite of their severe ideological differences; he clashed with Ishan on several occasions. We don't know who the current Federation President, Kellessar zh'Tarash of the Andorian Empire, has appointed--but given her oft-stated admiration for Bacco, it is possible that Safranski has continued to serve under her.

If you expand your pallet to include information from the Crucible trilogy, which is set in a slightly alternate continuity from the mainstream novel continuity, you could also make use of the Bureau of Interplanetary Affairs. I tend to interpret the BIA as differing from the Department of the Exterior in that I think the BIA's primary duties are probably to help regulate relations between Federation Member States rather than between the UFP and foreign states. So if I were you, I'd only use the BIA if I intended to have the particular diplomatic mishap of your sports organization be one that affects relations between Federation worlds rather than between the UFP and foreign states.

To date, there has been no Federation sports ministry established that I am aware of; you could establish one of your own. "The Federation Department of Culture and Sport," for instance.

A note on Federation Council committees: They are referred to as sub-councils, and receive the formal name of "Federation [Name] Council." So the sub-council dealing with scientific issues is the Federation Science Council; espionage, the Federation Intelligence Council; national security, the Federation Security Council; etc. You could establish a Federation Sports and Culture Council, for instance, or a Sport Council as sub-committee of the Federation Culture Council, or what-have-you.

 

[chrinFinity]

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed. You're fantastic.