The United Federation of Planets is the united government of many, many planets.
Each member species has to abide by the rules and policies set out by the Federation and
there are a lot of them.
Starfleet too has its own standing orders that must be obeyed by those within its ranks.
The Federation’s principles are more to outline a general level of acceptable lifestyle
from its member races and protect the rights of its citizens whereas those tenants of Starfleet
are more militaristic in nature.
Hi, Ric here again with part two of my Federation overview, part one being a general overview
of the differences between Starfleet, the UFP and the United Earth.
This video is going to look into the laws and directives of these organisations and
how they affect the governments of the planets who have allied themselves with the great
interstellar power.
So let’s start off by looking at what qualifies a species to join the United Federation of
Planets as these criteria clearly influence the laws that govern them.
Yay, this doesn’t sound like dry reading at all!
First off, a potential member race must have achieved faster-than-light travel.
Most commonly this is warp drive, though harnessing the power of matter-antimatter reactions is
not the only method of relevant interstellar propulsion.
For example, the Romulans utilise artificial singularities as a power source to fold space
in a similar manner to warp and the Xindi used subspace corridors to achieve similar
results.
(Though only one of these two races has ever been a federation member).
This level of technological advancement is seen as necessary and adopted from the Vulcan’s
own principles of first contact.
It ensures a species has accepted the possibility of advanced technology and provides a common
starting ground for further talks.
However, a species that requests to join the federation must also have developed sufficiently
on a societal level.
There planet and government must have a single unifying power that comfortably reflects the
interests of the whole.
This isn’t to say that the species itself is only allowed one governing body as different
districts, countries and parties all still have representatives, but the Federation will
only deal with a government that represents its entire people.
For this reason, discrimination, caste-based social divisions such as slavery and prejudice
must be eliminated in their entirety.
It’s at this point I feel it important to point out that the Federation itself is to
play no part in the removal of these elements, it’s down to the potential member itself
to achieve this level of unification.
In fact this non-interference policy is the prime directive of Starfleet and the UFP has
something similar.
Other criteria include the appointment of an ambassador and the acceptation of an Embassy
where necessary.
A joining race cannot be actively engaged in hostilities with an existing member race,
either.
Once a member, that species must abide by the rules of the Federation and in return
will be protected by them.
They cannot interfere in cultures foreign to their own without due purview, they must
respect the cultures of those within the Federation including its arts, traditions and beliefs
so long as they not to conflict with the general principles of the federation.
Additionally they may not impede the rights of races outside of the federation.
A joining race retains its own governmental structure and justice system so long as it
does not conflict with the rights of sentient species set out in the Federation charter.
Once a member, the species may choose to share its knowledge, research and development in
the spirit of cooperation and betterment.
They also may contribute its military or scientific arms to bolster that of the Federation, that
being Starfleet or other UFP organisations.
And if an individual is a part of Starfleet, they must also abide by its laws and regulations.
This level of cooperation is actively encouraged although not enforced.
However if a species isolates itself within the Federation then that sort of defeats the
point of becoming a member and although they gain access to much of the cumulative knowledge
of the UFP, they may develop a reputation.
Any amendments to the Federation charter are to be brought before an assembly of officials
before being ratified.
Although there is always leeway in a species negotiating its membership as with the aftermath
of the Dominion War, violation of these principles is treated severely and eligibility for membership
in the UFP will be put under review.
Potential penalties include trade limitations, travel limitations and potential termination
of membership.
A member that is dismissed from the Federation generally withdraws its presence from Starfleet
and other federation institutions, loses access to its member races trade, tech and space
as well generally withdrawing from Federation territory.
Now as mentioned, Starfleet itself has its own rules and regulations in addition to the
Federation Charter but is founded on the same spirit of cooperation and unity.
Hence, applicants to Starfleet do not even need to be of a federation race, see Lt. Cmdr.
Worf or Ensign Nog who are Klingon and Ferengi, both species of which maintain their own independence.
These orders are numerous and spread over several areas such as Standing Orders, protocol
and directives so I’ll just list a few.
At the top of the list is General Order 1: The prime directive.
This is an adapted version of the Federation’s own non-interference policy but with language
and situations benefiting the regimented lifestyle aboard a starship.
Order 2 simple states that the taking of sentient life without due cause is prohibited.
I mean, murder is a bad, whodathought?
Starfleet also forbids the death penalty.
This seems to contradict general order 7 which states, No vessel under any condition, emergency
or otherwise is to visit Talos IV.
The penalty for violating this is death although it’s good to note that the only time this
was violated, the penalty was not enforced.
Forcibly removing a native populace from a home planet or colony is forbidden and knowingly
encroaching on an alien species territory without permission is prohibited.
Again many of these policies are more flexible though breaking them often results in some
form of investigation and assigned blame.
Many of the orders/directives apply more to situations that a Starfleet crew may encounter
while out there exploring space including numerous first contact protocols.
Before engaging a species in battle, any and all attempts to make first contact and achieve
non-military resolution must be made.
When a confronting any vessel when communications have not been established, you should adopt
a position of alert status.
(Yellow, Red) Federation ship are to be scuttled of self-destructed
if they pose a hazard to other vessels and reclamation is impossible.
Evacuation of Starfleet vessels if the vessel is compromised beyond repair or remaining
would put the crew in mortal danger at captain’s discretion.
No flag officer shall beam into a hazardous area without armed escort.
(Kirk denied this was a thing saying there was no such rule.
But he was probably being pedantic, replace beam with enter and that’s probably the
official term for this rule.)
Individuals accused of crime do not have to answer any questions.
In the absence of a ship’s captain flag officers have authority to assume command
should the deem it necessary.
The CMO has authority to relieve an officer or crewman, including superior rank, if the
CMO deems it medically necessary or the officer is otherwise compromised.
A starship may be scuttled or self-destructed to prevent capture by an enemy force to prevent
technological contamination or tactical advantages.
The CO is called captain regardless of rank.
Superiors officers are to be addressed as sir, ma’am.
Asylum is to be granted at the discretion of the captain providing it does not conflict
with the UFop charter or Starfleet law.
Accidents have to be documented and investigated.
An official letter from an officer to another must be read and replied to.
The captain could override a superior’s order to an extent when aboard his/her own
vessel.
Though this was always followed by an inquiry to verify the necessity of this action.
And very rarely there was even an order that could allow a captain to Destroy all life
on a planet’s surface if all other methods to neutralize hostility/prevent contamination
etc have failed.
(This order has never been seen to be carried out in the TV show, but a hypothetical could
apply to a situation where the Borg overrun colony on the boarder of federation space)
There are also several protocols that are often ignored by the crew, most frequently
“a captain was not allowed to leave the ship unattended or engage in away missions
unnecessarily”.
It’s probably rarer to see that law enforced than it is to see it broken.
Also striking a fellow officer was an offense punishable at the captain’s discretion.
Violation of these principles could result in, inquiry and investigation, brig time,
demotion, restriction of privileges, court martial and even dishonourable discharge.
So there we go, there are a lot of rules to follow for the Federation, let alone members
of Starfleet but most of the principles set out in the charters are there to protect personal
freedoms and the individuality of cultures that have joined the organisation as well
as those of races that the Federation may come across.
This sort of unity seeks to strengthen through diversity but can often be seen as homogenisation
from outside forces leading to many powers refusing to join the Federation or downright
opposing the ever-expanding organisation.
But that is the subject for the next video.
Thanks for watching, What other Starfleet or UFP tenants have I missed out, uniform
regulations I suppose but Starfleet seems to get fairly lax on those all by itself so
I didn’t forget…
I was making a…meta-statement.
Yes…totally that…I’ll see you next time for part 3, thanks for watching and goodbye.