United Federation of Planets
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the United Federation of Planets is the interstellar government that sent Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the crew of the starship Enterprise on its mission of peaceful exploration. Commonly referred to as "the Federation", it was introduced in the television show . The survival, success, and growth of the Federation and its principles of freedom have become some of the Star Trek franchise's central themes.
The Federation is an organization of numerous planetary sovereignties, and although viewers are never told about the internal workings of the government, many episodes refer to the rules and laws that the Federation imposes on the characters and their adventures.
Development
Early in the first season of Star Trek, Captain Kirk had said the Enterprises authority came from the United Earth Space Probe Agency. Bases visited in the series were labeled "Earth Outposts". In August 1966, Gene L. Coon was hired by Gene Roddenberry as a writer for Star Trek. Actor William Shatner credits Coon with injecting the concepts of Starfleet, Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets into the show. One of the first teleplays Coon was credited with was "A Taste of Armageddon", where an ambassador on the Enterprise is referred to as a Federation official.Eventually, with the series as allegory for the current events of the 1960s counterculture, the creators were able to portray Cold War tensions with the Federation resembling NATO and the Klingons the Soviet Union.
Reception
The optimistic view of the future present in the Federation has been highlighted as unique among most science fiction, showing how "civilized" the future could conceivably be. Much debate has centered around how realistic is the "post-scarcity" economy of the Federation that has evolved beyond government-controlled monetary systems. It has been described, along with the series as a whole, as a vehicle to explore what it means to be human, as well as exploring mankind's efforts to build a better society. Other writers have noted that Star Trek's Federation has the same logistical and philosophical difficulties of other utopian economic and political schemes that make it seem unrealistic.In 2020, ScreentRant noted the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "First Contact" for exploring the United Federation of Planets and how it sometimes struggles with contact with aliens.
In-universe portrayal
Like many things in Star Trek, episodes and films may reference entities or laws within the Federation, but viewers are never given a broad view of its inner workings. Many contemporary terms are assigned to the Federation, but parallels to current government bodies and their roles and responsibilities are pure speculation on the part of fans and critics.In-universe references to the Federation include:
The organization of the Federation
- The Federation was founded in 2161.
- The Federation has a President.
- The President has the power to pardon.
- The President is supported by a Cabinet.
- The Federation has a Supreme Court.
- The Federation's military/exploration arm is Starfleet Command.
- The Federation Council is made up of delegates from member sovereignties.
- In 's "The Drumhead," Captain Picard calls the founding document the "Constitution."
- In 's "The Void |The Void," the founding document appears onscreen, with the heading "Charter of the United Federation of Planets."
Sovereignties wishing to join the Federation
- Must not employ caste-based discrimination.
- Must not have a record of violations of sentient rights.
- A single, unified government is not required for admission, but is desirable.
Notable Members and Non-Members
- The founding members of the Federation were Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar
- Coridan, mentioned in TOS, DS9, and Enterprise, joined the Federation in 2268
- Federation Presidents have included Efrosians and Grazerites
- Betazed, Trill, Delta IV, and Bolarus IX have never been explicitly confirmed as Federation members, but at least one Deltan, multiple Trills and Betazoids, and many Bolians have served in Starfleet.
- Risa is often affiliated with the Federation, but has never been explicitly confirmed as a Federation member, and no Risians have been shown serving in Starfleet.
- Multiple Bajorans were serving in Starfleet before the start of Deep Space Nine, but by DS9's end, Bajor had not joined the Federation.
- Neither the planet Cait nor the Caitians, originally seen in the animated series, have been mentioned by name in any canon sources, but catlike aliens appeared as Federation members at Kirk's court-martial in.
- In 2267, Captain Kirk said that humanity was on "a thousand planets and spreading out."
- Travelling back in time from 2373, Captain Jean-Luc Picard mentions that the Federation is made up of "over one hundred and fifty" planets, spread across 8,000 light-years.
- By the 26th century, the Federation had expanded to include the Klingons and Xindi
Economics
- In the TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," set in 2267, Uhura is offered a pet tribble for 10 credits.
- In , in 2285, an earthbound McCoy tries to book transport to the Genesis planet and is warned it could be expensive, but it is never revealed how much it would cost.
- First mention of the Federation's obsolescence of traditional money came in ' when Kirk, freshly arrived in 1980s San Francisco from 2286, observes that "these people still use money" and, when asked if his crew uses cash in the future, answers, "We don't."
- In the inaugural episode, "Encounter at Farpoint," set in 2364, Enterprise medical officer Beverly Crusher buys a bolt of fabric and asks for it to be charged to her ship's account.
- In the 1988 episode "The Neutral Zone |The Neutral Zone," Picard explains to cryogenically-preserved people from the 20th century that 24th-century Federation economics differ, and that money as they know it is not used, or needed.
- In the 1989 TNG episode "The Price", gold is still used as a currency between species, and the Ferengi offer gold ingots in their bid for the rights to a newly discovered wormhole. Gold is again implied to be a valuable currency in the 1992 episode "The Perfect Mate".
- In the 1991 TNG episode "Unification, part II", an alien piano player asks Riker to put some coins in her tip jar if he wants information from her; he responds that he doesn't carry money.
- The 1993 ' episode "Past Prologue" introduces a new currency, "gold-pressed latinum", which the Duras sisters accept 13 kilograms of in exchange for explosive material. Latinum would continue to be used as money throughout all seven seasons of DS9, with denominations including slips, strips, and bars.
- In the 1994 ' episode "Firstborn |Firstborn," Riker states that latinum can be spent "almost anywhere."
- In the 1996 movie ', Captain Picard says that the reason why money doesn't exist in the 24th century is because "the acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives" and "we work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity". The latter phrase was used a year later in the ' episode "In the Cards", when Jake Sisko tells his Ferengi friend Nog of the Federation's philosophy.
- By the time of the 1998 DS9 episode "Who Mourns for Morn?", the Ferengi consider gold "worthless", and primarily use it as a means of storing latinum.
- In the 1999 ' episode "Dark Frontier," Tom Paris says that the late 22nd century was when the "new world economy took shape" and money "went the way of the dinosaur".
Future of the Federation
In a trailer for the third season of , taking place around the same time as "Calypso", the Federation's flag appears with only six stars, instead of dozens in the 23rd and 24th century. Out of three large stars representing the founders of the Federation, only two remain. The trailer shows violent Andorian warriors, hinting that the Andorians also left the Federation.
Non-canon references
In non-canon sources like the original 1975 Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, Johnson's Worlds of the Federation, and roleplaying games, the Federation's five founding members were Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, Andor, and Alpha Centauri. Some non-canon works assert that founding member Alpha Centauri is home to a human race known as, variously, Centaurans, Centaurians, or Centauri.The 1980-to-2188 historical guide Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology posits the Federation as being incorporated at 'the first Babel Interplanetary Conference' in 2087.
In books such as the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual and the novel Articles of the Federation, the Federation's founding document is the Articles of Federation.