| 38th | Top sovereign states |
| 1st | Top forms of government |
The Galactic Federation was the political entity that succeeded the Earth Empire as the dominant galactic power.
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The Federation was designed to ensure peaceful relations between the many species in the galaxy, with emphasis on cooperation rather competition in matters of trade and policy. It was formed to help the unstable economy of the Galaxy after the collapse of the Earth Empire.
The headquarters of the Federation was located on Alpha Centauri in 3375, though Jupiter's moon Io was eventually chosen as the Federation Chair. (MA: The Dark Path)
Each member of the Federation took a chairmanship for a limited term. Any decision must be made by majority vote. (MA: The Dark Path)
The Federation guaranteed full planetary sovereignty to its member worlds, meaning that the federation council could not interfere with the local laws and customs of individual planets. (DW: The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon)
| INTERSTELLAR STATE | |
| United Federation of Planets | |
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| Dominant species: | Various |
| Location: | Alpha & Beta Quadrants |
| Capital: | Paris, Earth |
| Principal City: | San Francisco, Earth |
| Volume: | 8,000 cubic light-years |
| Sovereignty: | 12 August 2161 |
| Government | |
| System of government: | Federal Republic |
| Legislature: | Federation Council |
| Seat of government: | Palais de la Concorde |
| Head of state: | President (Nanietta Bacco, 2380) |
| Head of government: | President (Nanietta Bacco, 2380) |
| People | |
| Population: | 9.85 trillion sentient life-forms |
| Currency: | Federation credit |
| Language: | Federation Standard |
Flag: |
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The United Federation of Planets is an interstellar state composed of 155 member states, colonies, protectorates, and other planetary governments unified under the goals of universal liberty, justice, equality, trade, exploration, scientific advancement, peace, and mutual protection. The most powerful state in local space, the Federation encompassed 8,000 light-years and is by far the largest state in the known Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The Federation, along with the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire, was one of the three traditional superpowers of known space. Unlike its traditional rivals who derive power from a single dominant species subjugating other races within the boundaries of their empire, the Federation's various Member States join willingly and are equals in the Federation's democratic society.
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The Federation was formed on the 12 August (ENT novel: Last Full Measure) 2161 (TNG episode: "The Outcast", ENT episode: "Zero Hour"), the successor to the Coalition of Planets. (ENT episode: "Demons") The founding Member States of United Earth, the Confederacy of Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, the United Planets of Tellar, and Alpha Centauri (ENT episode: "Zero Hour", ST novel: Articles of the Federation) were subsequently joined by numerous other worlds to form one of the largest states in the galaxy. By 2380, the Federation consisted of 155 Member States. (ST novel: Articles of the Federation).
However along side peaceful relations and expansion the Federation was involved with numerous conflicts, some of the largest and post prolonged being with the Klingons in the 23rd century and Borg and Dominion in the 24th century.
See also: Federation Government
The Federation is a representative republic, with an elected president as the head of its executive branch. An election is held every four years, and a president may serve for an unlimited number of terms.
The legislative branch is composed of the Federation Council, which is composed of one councillor from every Member World. There is no limit as to how many terms a person may serve as councillor. T'Latrek of Vulcan, for instance, served on the Federation Council for nearly a century. Each individual Member determines how its councillors will be determined; the First Minister of Bajor, for instance, nominates that world's councillor and the Chamber of Ministers ratifies him or her, while the electorates of many other Members elect their councillors directly.
The Federation government has several executive departments whose heads form the Presidential Cabinet, who advise the president on their issues of jurisdiction and run their departments on a day-to-day basis. Cabinet members can have strong influence on Federation policy based upon their work with the president and the appropriate members of the Federation Council.
The capital city of the Federation is Paris, and the capital planet is Earth. The seat of government is the Palais de la Concorde.
In the continuity of the novel Crisis on Centaurus, the Federation government is based out of Geneva, Switzerland. In the continuity of the novel The Final Reflection, the Federation capital is Federa-Terra, Florida.
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Executive Departments and Cabinet-Level Agencies of the United Federation of Planets | |
| Agriculture | Commerce | Defense | Exterior | Housing | Science | Technology | Temporal Investigations | Travel Independent Cabinet-Level Agency: Office of the Federation Security Advisor |
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See: Federation members.
See: Presidents of the United Federation of Planets.
See: Council of the United Federation of Planets.
See: Federation Relations with the Klingon Empire.
Symbols of Federation patriotism include the Great Seal of the United Federation of Planets, which serves as the official emblem of the UFP. The Flag of the United Federation of Planets is also a prominent Federation symbol, often displayed at government buildings, official events, and at state and Starfleet funerals. The Anthem of the United Federation of Planets is the official musical composition of the UFP.
One such award that is given to members of Starfleet during victories in battle is the Andorian Battle Star which recognises command officers that have displayed who demonstrate superior tactical abilities. (TNG novel: FASA Officer's Manual)
There is no official Federation religion, although members are free to practice their own religious and philosophical beliefs, as protected by the Guarantees contained in the Articles of the United Federation of Planets.
Every August 12, Federation citizens observe Federation Day, a patriotic holiday established in rememberance of the founding of the Federation.
| Major States in Local Space | |
|---|---|
| Khitomer Accords alliance | Ferengi Alliance • Imperial Romulan State • Klingon Empire • United Federation of Planets |
| Typhon Pact members | Breen Confederacy • Gorn Hegemony • Holy Order of the Kinshaya • Romulan Star Empire • Tholian Assembly • Tzenkethi Coalition |
| Non-aligned states | Cardassian Union • Danteri Empire • First Federation • The Patriarchy • Sheliak Corporate • Tezwa • Thallonian Protectorate • Talarian Republic • Ubarrak Primacy • Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne • Daa'Vit Confederacy • Metron Consortium |
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| This article is marked as lacking essential detail, and needs attention. Information regarding expansion requirements may be found on the article's talk page. Feel free to edit this page to assist with this expansion. |
The United Federation of Planets, commonly the Federation or UFP, is an interstellar political entity founded in the 22nd century. In the first two hundred years of its existence, the Federation grew to be the dominant galactic superpower in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, thanks in no small part to the efforts of its Starfleet.
Unlike other galactic powers such as the Klingon Empire or the Romulan Star Empire, where one species subjugates others, the Federation is a a democratic metagovernment, comprised of hundreds of planetary and interplanetary member governments, associate members, protectorates and colonies. These worlds and governments are represented by the Federation Council, which meets on Earth, led by the Federation President. (TOS: "Journey to Babel", Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
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Founded in 2161 in the aftermath of the Earth-Romulan War, the Federation was an outgrowth of an alliance between several worlds, including Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar and Alpha Centauri, among others. (TNG: "The Outcast"; ENT: "Zero Hour", "United", "Demons", "Terra Prime", "These Are the Voyages...")
Despite its peaceful nature and intentions, the Federation faced many conflicts over the years. Encounters with the Klingons in the 22nd and early 23rd centuries eventually led to the First Federation-Klingon War, followed by a cold war. Those "seventy years of unremitting hostility" came to an end in 2293, when the Federation gave aid to the Klingons followed the destruction of Praxis, their key energy facility. The Khitomer Conference that followed began the long process toward not only peace, but an alliance between the UFP and the Klingon Empire. The Klingons temporarily withdrew from that alliance in the 2370s, igniting the Second Federation-Klingon War, but peace was soon re-established. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Judgement", et. al; TOS: "Errand of Mercy"; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; TNG: "Heart of Glory", "Yesterday's Enterprise"; DS9: "The Way of the Warrior", "Apocalypse Rising", "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light")
Conflicts between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire ebbed and flowed in the years following the Earth-Romulan War. After the Romulan Neutral Zone was established, the Empire retreated into its borders for nearly 100 years, only venturing out again to test the Federation in the 2260s. From that time on, while no protracted wars broke out, tensions ran high between the two powers. After the fall of the Klingon Neutral Zone, those tensions escalated, and almost surely would have erupted into war were it not for the disastrous Tomed Incident of 2311. After Tomed, the Romulans and Federation signed the Treaty of Algeron, and the Romulans again retreated within their own borders, isolating themselves until the destruction of outposts along the Neutral Zone drew them out again in 2364. (TOS: "Balance of Terror", "The Enterprise Incident", Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, TNG: "The Neutral Zone", "The Pegasus")
Smaller conflicts dogged the Federation in the 2340s through the 2360s, including wars with the Cardassians and the Tzenkethi, and the Galen Border Conflicts with the Talarian Republic. The Tholian Assembly was also a threat to the Federation during that period. (TNG: "The Wounded", "Suddenly Human", "The Icarus Factor"; DS9: "The Adversary", "Homefront")
In the mid-2360s, Starfleet made first contact with the greatest single threat they had ever faced: the Borg Collective, a race of cybernetic beings bent on the assimilation of all life in the galaxy. The first Borg incursion was only turned back after a failed defense at the Battle of Wolf 359, and the near assimilation of Earth in 2366-67. Defeated but not destroyed, the Collective would return to plague the Federation again and again, most notably in 2373 and the Battle of Sector 001. (TNG: "Q Who", "The Best of Both Worlds", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", "Descent"; Star Trek: First Contact; VOY: "Scorpion", "Dark Frontier", "Endgame")
When the discovery of the Bajoran Wormhole in 2369 opened up travel to the distant Gamma Quadrant, it was only a matter of time before the Federation encountered the Dominion. First contact between the two powers came in 2370, and hostilities increased for several years while the Dominion's shape-shifting Founders manipulated various governments, until war broke out in 2373. The Dominion War not only threatened the Federation, but the entire Alpha Quadrant, and drew numerous galactic powers, both friend and former foe, into the Federation Alliance. Though it lasted only two years, the Dominion War was the most costly conflict the Federation had ever endured. Countless lives were lost and several key worlds were occupied before the Dominion offensive was repelled in 2375. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar", "The Search, Part II", "The Die Is Cast", "Homefront", "Apocalypse Rising", "In Purgatory's Shadow", "By Inferno's Light", "Call to Arms")
Though the price of peace was heavy, especially to the Dominion's former ally Cardassia, the aftermath of the Dominion War saw the opportunity for the Federation to do what it did best, make friends out of old enemies. In addition to the goodwill to be gained from the Cardassian relief effort, the Federation hoped that it could maintain and improve relations with the Romulan Star Empire, perhaps coming to the same sort of détente as with the Klingons eighty some years before. (Star Trek Nemesis)
More than an alliance of purely independent states, the Federation government is based upon the model of a federal republic, where its member planets and colonies remain semi-autonomous, controlling their local territory as they see fit in accordance with Federation principles as outlined in the Articles of Federation. The government is divided into three branches: the Federation Council acts as the the legislative branch, the Federation President, is the chief executive and head of state, and the Federation Supreme Court, serves as the supreme judiciary. The Federation Council has chambers in San Francisco, while offices of the Federation President are located in Paris. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
From an economic perspective, the Federation functions as a utopian technocracy where all its citizens are provided for thanks to the inexpensive, large-scale production and dissemination of nearly all food, clothing, shelter and consumer goods. By the late-23rd century (and probably earlier), the UFP no longer used money in the traditional sense, but made use of the Federation credit as a basic unit of exchange when needed. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles", et. al)
Advances in technology and a drastic shift in public attitudes towards wealth made traditional currencies obsolete in the 22nd century, ushering in the New World Economy. The introduction and advancement of replicators during the 24th century also drastically changed the orientation of the economy, as matter-energy conversion reduced the cost of most small- to medium-scale objects to practically nothing while increasing the efficiency of large-scale construction. (citation needed)
According to 24th century humanists such as Jean-Luc Picard, the driving force behind Federation, and especially human society was no longer the acquisition of wealth, but rather "to better one's self," advance knowledge and the benefit of all. Ironically, the Federation greatly encouraged entrepreneurship, an archaic and seemingly-anachronistic holdover from capitalist economies. The traditional benefits of such endeavors, namely profit and personal gain, were instead replaced by personal enjoyment and self-betterment and expression, often manifesting in new services to fill the needs and desires of society at large. (Star Trek: First Contact), DS9: "In the Cards")
In general, Federation members and colony worlds are abundant in natural resources, although their relative and intrinsic worth altered as replicator technology reduced the need for many refined and semi-refined materials. Among non-Federation members, like the Ferengi Alliance, other non-replicatable materials such as latinum and dilithium are often used as currency. The Federation also uses these materials for the purposes of interstellar trade with non-aligned parties.
Some Federation member worlds possess rare or exclusive resources, and may be called upon to provide consignments of those substances in times of emergency. In some rare cases, the Federation would trade with non-members to procure necessary commodities. (TOS: "The Cloud Minders"; TNG: "Code of Honor")
In the Federation, everyone must work. If one cannot find employment, one must join Starfleet or undertake assigned social tasks such as gardening in public parks or helping ill people in hospitals.
Corporation employees are involved with the decisions of their corporation. All Federation corporations have a council comrpised of employees to ensure this happens.
The importance of the tertiary sector of economic activity has been increasing since the second half of the 20th century.
The Federation participates in the annual summits of the leading economic powers of the Alpha Quadrant and the Beta Quadrant. (Dragon Ball Z vs. Star Trek: The Way of Infinity)
The Federation economy in the 24th century is refered to as a utopianism economy (much like the concepts of capitalism, communism and socialism). (Star Trek: The Cantabrian Expeditions)
In the 2260s, there were at least 30 full members of the UFP, and the Federation was spread out over more than 1,000 worlds. A hundred years later, the Federation had more than 150 members and over a thousand colonies, occupying over 8,000 light years of space. (TOS: "Metamorphosis", "Journey to Babel"; Star Trek: First Contact)
Federation: Group of states, worlds, or systems, each internally independent, joined into a union to which has been surrendered certain rights and responsibilities, most generally to do with foreign affairs.
| This article was copied or excerpted from the following copyrighted sources and used under license from Far Future Enterprises and by permission of the author. |
| – Imperial Encyclopedia |
| – The Traveller Book |
| – Supplement 8 Library Data (A-M) |
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