As a follow up to a previous discussion, how did the United Federation of Planets grow and change from it's founding to the end of the Picard era?
We've had interesting comments and thoughts on a lot of parts of this, but how does all this fit together? For example (but not an exclusive list) :
UESPA. It looks like the United Earth Space Probe Agency was a separate entity that Kirk's Enterprise operated under. At some point this goes away in favor, apparently, of a more unified and less Earth-centric approach.
Federation membership. As mentioned in another topic, the structure of the Federation appears to change from a loose union of very independent members that exchange ambassadors with each other and have embassies on other member worlds (like the UN or EU) to a more unified structure with a single, consolidated jurisdiction.
Starfleet's role as the military. There seems to be a philosophical shift in how Starfleet self-identifies. Kirk is a soldier, nit a diplomat. The Genesis project scientists are compared to pawns of the military. The 23rd century Starfleet is proud to claim to be a military. By the 24th century this changes. Emphasis is placed on exploration. Picard almost refused to partake in war games training. Like Japan after WWII the idea of being thought of as having a military is taboo. Like Japan, Starfleet is a defense force. It's a peace keeping armada.
Money. Scotty bought a boat. Starfleet invested over 22,000 credits in Spock's career. Jake had no money to buy a baseball card and Picard said accumulating wealth was replaced with the idea of self-betterment.
Prime Directive. The definition was "No identification of self or mission. No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations." Kirk was directed to stop the asteroid from hitting Mirananee's planet. Picard was willing to stand aside as Sarjanka's planet burned to a cinder. What happened to make saving a culture taboo?
Previous discussion: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-united-federation-of-planets-centennial-2161-2261.315760/
We've had interesting comments and thoughts on a lot of parts of this, but how does all this fit together? For example (but not an exclusive list) :
UESPA. It looks like the United Earth Space Probe Agency was a separate entity that Kirk's Enterprise operated under. At some point this goes away in favor, apparently, of a more unified and less Earth-centric approach.
Federation membership. As mentioned in another topic, the structure of the Federation appears to change from a loose union of very independent members that exchange ambassadors with each other and have embassies on other member worlds (like the UN or EU) to a more unified structure with a single, consolidated jurisdiction.
Starfleet's role as the military. There seems to be a philosophical shift in how Starfleet self-identifies. Kirk is a soldier, nit a diplomat. The Genesis project scientists are compared to pawns of the military. The 23rd century Starfleet is proud to claim to be a military. By the 24th century this changes. Emphasis is placed on exploration. Picard almost refused to partake in war games training. Like Japan after WWII the idea of being thought of as having a military is taboo. Like Japan, Starfleet is a defense force. It's a peace keeping armada.
Money. Scotty bought a boat. Starfleet invested over 22,000 credits in Spock's career. Jake had no money to buy a baseball card and Picard said accumulating wealth was replaced with the idea of self-betterment.
Prime Directive. The definition was "No identification of self or mission. No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds, or more advanced civilisations." Kirk was directed to stop the asteroid from hitting Mirananee's planet. Picard was willing to stand aside as Sarjanka's planet burned to a cinder. What happened to make saving a culture taboo?
Previous discussion: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-united-federation-of-planets-centennial-2161-2261.315760/
