The Federation's odd policy toward Bajor

[DonIago]

I've never seen it spelled Bajorian, nor does it seem likely to me that it would be spelled that way.

Bajora, which fell out of use shortly after its first occurrence, strikes me as more plausible.

 

[Paradon]

One of the things that I always found a little odd about early episodes of DS9 was the Federation's seemingly lackluster humanitarian policy towards Bajor. The Federation is a vast multiplanetary empire that is the richest and most powerful of the major civilizations in the the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. More importantly its been said, time and again, that it is a society without crime or poverty...a virtual paradise. While some of that is arguably hyperbole and propaganda...much of it has shown to be true. So it seems a bit strange that the Federation does not seem to provide more material assistance to Bajor in the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation.

In several of the episodes in seasons 1-3 we hear about supply shortages, droughts, famine and all sorts of problems on Bajor. Yet all of those problems should have been easily solved with advanced Federation technology. So why was the Federation holding out on Bajor? It was a candidate for Federation membership and none of its problems were of its own making. So why hold back the material assistance?

I'm sure that much of this was done for dramatic reasons on the show. Its more interesting to show a society struggling to rebuild on its own than to simply have Starfleet show up and install of its the Federation's magic technology. Indeed, what was shown is probably closer to what happens in the real world where resources are not unlimited and there are budgets that have to be balanced not to mention political considerations. But the Federation is a post scarcity society. So we needed a bit of an explanation as to why it seemed content to let Bajor suffer unnecessarily.

One rule Prime Directive... Helping Bajor to rebuild would be like starting an experiment that you never know what might go wrong. After the occupations there were many factions that were poise to take control of Bajor and if the Federation were to help them, that could some how start a civil war if the balance was tipped somehow. Maybe the Federation could be helping someone who is power hunger by supplying them with the means to start an army with the industrial replicators. We saw later that they indeed had some kind of civil unrest and the military attempted to take over. It could have been worse if the UFP did get involve in Bajor politics. The only reason the Federation was there is because of the wormhole.

An example in the real world would be Rewanda. AFter the Belgians left the oppressed faction started killing the faction that sided with the Belgians. They started hacking people down with machetes and raped the women. This sort of thing could easily happen to Bajor, especially when the planet was in a vulnerable state after Cardassian occupation and they were just starting to rebuild when there were factions looking to take control of the planet.

 

[DonIago]

^You're a bit off there, as "Emissary" rather clearly establishes that the Federation established a presence before anybody knew about the wormhole.

 

[Paradon]

I think you may right! sorry about that. I think they were there to protect them in case the Cardassians return.

 

[wissaboo]

I was always amazed at how beautiful bajor was. You would think it would show some signs of the strife

 

[DonIago]

I suspect we tended to only see the areas that were least damaged/recovered most quickly.

 

[Sci]

Did I use the term wrong?

The people of Bajor are Bajorian iirc. Just like the people of Brazil are Brazilian, the people of Britain are British, or the people of Spain are Spanish.

I'm pretty sure that Kira referred to her people as the Bajorian. Perhaps I misheard.

Bajori
Bajorish
Bajorese
Bajorn

What the fuck are you talking about?

Seriously, have you even seen DS9? The word is "Bajoran." Always was. No "I" involved.

 

[T'Girl]

Making Bajor a showpiece world for the benefits of being a UFP friend would be a major propaganda victory

Why would the Federation even want to help Bajor? There are surely many worlds in the galaxy in similar or worse straits. Why was Bajor singled out?

Bashir did say that from the prospective of the Federation, that Bajor was on "the frontier." By drawing Bajor into the Federation, the Federation expands outwards. It gets to grow. The Federation also wedges itself deep into a former Cardassian territory. With Bajor as a future member, other Cardassian (Cardassan?) conquests adjacent to Bajor could be systematically peel away from Cardassia, and brought into the Federation's "sphere of influence."

With no idea of the future fate of the Cardassian Union in the Dominion War, this course of action would be seen in the eyes of Starfleet strategists as a way of weakening the Cardassians over time.

 

[DonIago]

There's also the fact that the Provisional Government -asked- for the Federation's assistance.

 

[horatio83]

Why would the Federation even want to help Bajor?

I don't know about you but if somebody asks me for help I do it unless I feel that he or she wants to exploit me.

 

[Lord Garth FOI]

Because the Bajorans are a big god damn pain in the ass!

One of the things that I always found a little odd about early episodes of DS9 was the Federation's seemingly lackluster humanitarian policy towards Bajor. The Federation is a vast multiplanetary empire that is the richest and most powerful of the major civilizations in the the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. More importantly its been said, time and again, that it is a society without crime or poverty...a virtual paradise. While some of that is arguably hyperbole and propaganda...much of it has shown to be true. So it seems a bit strange that the Federation does not seem to provide more material assistance to Bajor in the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation.

In several of the episodes in seasons 1-3 we hear about supply shortages, droughts, famine and all sorts of problems on Bajor. Yet all of those problems should have been easily solved with advanced Federation technology. So why was the Federation holding out on Bajor? It was a candidate for Federation membership and none of its problems were of its own making. So why hold back the material assistance?

I'm sure that much of this was done for dramatic reasons on the show. Its more interesting to show a society struggling to rebuild on its own than to simply have Starfleet show up and install of its the Federation's magic technology. Indeed, what was shown is probably closer to what happens in the real world where resources are not unlimited and there are budgets that have to be balanced not to mention political considerations. But the Federation is a post scarcity society. So we needed a bit of an explanation as to why it seemed content to let Bajor suffer unnecessarily.

 

[sonak]

One of the things that I always found a little odd about early episodes of DS9 was the Federation's seemingly lackluster humanitarian policy towards Bajor. The Federation is a vast multiplanetary empire that is the richest and most powerful of the major civilizations in the the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. More importantly its been said, time and again, that it is a society without crime or poverty...a virtual paradise. While some of that is arguably hyperbole and propaganda...much of it has shown to be true. So it seems a bit strange that the Federation does not seem to provide more material assistance to Bajor in the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation.

In several of the episodes in seasons 1-3 we hear about supply shortages, droughts, famine and all sorts of problems on Bajor. Yet all of those problems should have been easily solved with advanced Federation technology. So why was the Federation holding out on Bajor? It was a candidate for Federation membership and none of its problems were of its own making. So why hold back the material assistance?

I'm sure that much of this was done for dramatic reasons on the show. Its more interesting to show a society struggling to rebuild on its own than to simply have Starfleet show up and install of its the Federation's magic technology. Indeed, what was shown is probably closer to what happens in the real world where resources are not unlimited and there are budgets that have to be balanced not to mention political considerations. But the Federation is a post scarcity society. So we needed a bit of an explanation as to why it seemed content to let Bajor suffer unnecessarily.

One rule Prime Directive... Helping Bajor to rebuild would be like starting an experiment that you never know what might go wrong. After the occupations there were many factions that were poise to take control of Bajor and if the Federation were to help them, that could some how start a civil war if the balance was tipped somehow. Maybe the Federation could be helping someone who is power hunger by supplying them with the means to start an army with the industrial replicators. We saw later that they indeed had some kind of civil unrest and the military attempted to take over. It could have been worse if the UFP did get involve in Bajor politics. The only reason the Federation was there is because of the wormhole.

An example in the real world would be Rewanda. AFter the Belgians left the oppressed faction started killing the faction that sided with the Belgians. They started hacking people down with machetes and raped the women. This sort of thing could easily happen to Bajor, especially when the planet was in a vulnerable state after Cardassian occupation and they were just starting to rebuild when there were factions looking to take control of the planet.

overlooking the wildly inconsistent definitions of the PD, even by its strictest interpretation, I can't imagine that it would apply when an independent, space-faring civilization has openly requested Federation help.


If that's the case it would make the UFP rigidly isolationist.

 

[Paradon]

I guess protecting a country from an invading neighbor would be a different story.

 

[Timo]

The Feds only do that if the country in need of protecting is a sworn-in ally (or has the 23rd-24th century equivalent of oil or uranium in its soil). And not always in those cases, even - see "Redemption".

Stopping an invasion gets you mixed up in somebody else's war. Unless you are already part of that war (say, the invaders are Klingons such as in "A Private Little War"), or unless you are so much bigger than the other guy that a little war won't bother you much (any examples of this in Trek?), it's better to steer clear.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gotham Central]

I was always amazed at how beautiful bajor was. You would think it would show some signs of the strife

Actually if you look at the early episodes of the series, the matte painting that they used of Bajoran cities showed destruction and ruins.

It was only later in the series that the images of the cities got better as a sign that Bajor was recovering.

 

[Gotham Central]

The Feds only do that if the country in need of protecting is a sworn-in ally (or has the 23rd-24th century equivalent of oil or uranium in its soil). And not always in those cases, even - see "Redemption".

Timo Saloniemi

How is "Redemption" a good example? The Federation refused to get involved in a CIVIL WAR (which has been depicted fairly consistently on the show). However the Federation did intervene to stop the Romulan involvement...which was an external threat. The Federation did the same thing to prove Cardassian involvement in the Bajoran Civil War. The Federation has shown a willingness to get involved in conflicts that involve external aggressors or interference. We saw this quite often on TOS. Hell Sisko saves the Cardassian government government from the Klingon invasion. Actually the one internal conflict that the Federation did get involved in was supporting the Cardassian Rebellion against the Dominion. The ONLY reason the Federation did that was because it undermined a government that was supporting an enemy in which it was engaged in active hostilities.

 

[Kira Nerys]

I thought the bajoran attitude towards the feds was explained in the second episode of season one .The bajorans may have been pretty hostile towards the Feds only after the bajorans kick the cardies off their planet does the Fed offer assistance ?I would be pretty ticked too and be very wary towards any so called help.

 

[sonak]

I thought the bajoran attitude towards the feds was explained in the second episode of season one .The bajorans may have been pretty hostile towards the Feds only after the bajorans kick the cardies off their planet does the Fed offer assistance ?I would be pretty ticked too and be very wary towards any so called help.

why does one follow the other? Just because the UFP didn't want to fight a war with the Cardassians on the Bajorans' behalf doesn't mean they should be suspicious of offers of humanitarian aid.

 

[DonIago]

Suspicious no, but I think a little resentment is understandable.

 

[sonak]

Suspicious no, but I think a little resentment is understandable.

resentment I can see, but resentment to the point of interfering with accepting whatever aid is offered is just cutting off their nose to spite their face.