Volokh has a couple posts about governments and law with respect to some of the more noteworthy science fiction series and creators. Of course, "Star Trek" gets more than its share of attention. Guest blogger Ilya Somin notes:
The ["Star Trek"] Federation is a very loose federal system with each planet enjoying a high degree of autonomy. This is portrayed favorably, while centralized empires such as the Romulans, the Dominion, and the Borg are viewed negatively.
I think the Borg can be discarded from serious consideration here as they're not a conglomeration of individuals as the other two are. They're a "collective mind." (Sure, Geordi and the Enterprise-D tried one time to introduce the concept of individuality to the Borg, with disastrous results.) And it's true that the Federation is a free association of planets that have willingly joined the alliance. However, one thing has to be centralized before joining the Federation: the planet itself. There must be a world governing body for a planet.
Various Trek shows have hinted at aspects of the Federation's political structure. In "The Drumhead," one of my favorite "Next Generation" episodes, Capt. Picard mentions the "7th Guarantee" of the Federation Constitution, which is analogous to the US Constitution's 5th Amendment. The "new" United Nations had ruled in 2039 that "Earth citizens may not be held responsible for crimes committed by ancestors;" however, Next Generation writers seemed to have forgotten about this in their latter episode writing PC zeal. In the series' last season episode "Journey's End," the head of a Native American [planetary] colony chides Picard for one of his ancestor's crimes (against a group of Natives) from over 700 years ago! Of course, this "new" UN edict may not have been incorporated into the Federation's own Articles, but this is unlikely.
It had always seemed weird to me that, aside from just a few "nice" planetary cultures (humans, Vulcans, Bolians) all the others were militaristic imperialists. However, it is logical to assume (if I may borrow a certain Vulcan's coined phrase) that all the "nice" planets are part of the Federation! The Federation's incorporation was actually witnessed in the last episode of "Enterprise," the latest (now canceled) Trek series.
The reason one of the Federation's "enemy" races -- the Cardassians -- fell under militaristic rule was due to the ineptitude of the civilian government in providing for the people -- revealed, among other places, in "Chain of Command". As mentioned here, it is in this episode where even Trek makes a distinction between "unlawful combatants" (terrorists) and prisoners of war. Capt. Picard is tricked by [Cardassian-planted] intelligence into joining a spy mission to eradicate a deadly Cardassian weapon. Upon being captured, Picard is subsequently tortured. The replacement captain of the Enterprise (played with perfect you-love-to-hate-him arrogance by Ronnie Cox) and other officers strongly protest any harsh treatment of Picard, but the Cardassian representative informs them that if the Federation does not take responsibility for Picard's actions, "he'll be treated as a terrorist," not as a POW (where he has assorted treaty protections similar to those of our Geneva Convention).
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In a semi-related matter, I was checking out the "lost" Trek episodes -- those of the animated series from 1973. From reading the descriptions, the episodes look pretty cool and not necessarily created for a "kid" audience. Most of those involved with Trek do not count the TAS (The Animated Series) as part of "official" Trek history, with the exception of one episode, "Yesteryear."
One episode that intrigues the hell out of me is "The Slaver Weapon," which is directly based on one of my favorite sci-fi author's short stories, "The Soft Weapon." The author is Larry Niven, and his bad guys in the story are the dreaded Kzin, a brutal felinoid race. Niven merely replaces the human and other alien "good guys" in his story with the crew of the Enterprise, because the background story is almost exactly the same: billions of years ago, the "Slaver" race (real name "Thrint") had supreme mental abilities and basically ruled the entire Milky Way galaxy. One of their "slave" races, the Tnuctipun, was highly advanced technologically, and they clandestinely planned to overcome the Slavers after a period of many years. The resultant climax of their war led to the extermination of all life in the galaxy; however, the Slavers and Tnuctipun alike saved many artifacts in stasis boxes in which time essentially stands still.
In Niven's "The Soft Weapon," a duo of humans and a friendly alien discover such a [Tnuctipun] stasis box, and inside is the amazing weapon. They're eventually set upon by a Kzin ship, who've also detected the box. The implications of discovering this weapon become apparent when one of its settings is shown to be a "total conversion of matter-to-energy" device, which causes, needless to say, monolithic destruction. The Kzin manage to best the humans, grab the device, and set about to learn its secrets. However, the weapon proves to be a sentient computer as well, and assumes (rightly, actually) that hostile forces have captured it (mainly due to the Kzinti constantly demanding to know what it can do). It thus activates its self-destruct mechanism, annihilating itself and the Kzinti with it.
I checked out the one [five + minute long] video clip of "The Slaver Weapon," and the dialogue is almost directly taken from the short story, with Spock doing most of the "explanations."
One thing that was lame, in my opinion, is the ridiculous-looking Kzinti. Their bodies hardly look like that of ferocious carnivores; indeed, their limbs are ridiculously skinny and weak. Anyone who has checked out the excellent Niven-Universe "Man-Kzin Wars" series has seen what the catlike race should look like.
Another nice touch was how Sulu made the Kzinti part of Trek history -- Earth had fought four wars with the Kzin in the early era of human warp drive, and it was this invention that eventually allowed humans to defeat the big cats. (In the Niven Universe, Earth indeed fought four wars with the Kzin, but the first three were sub-light wars, meaning they took place over decades of time. The fourth and final war resulted in complete human victory as man began utilizing a faster-than-light space drive.) However, as noted previously, despite Sulu's comments in the episode, the Kzin are not part of "official" Trek history.
One comment: (And I'm showing my former nerdiness is still in my memory here.)
After Data objected during the trial that no human could be held responsible for the crimes of humanity, Q overruled it saying that ruling had been repealed as part of a complete repeal of the New United Nations later in the century. I don't remember more than that.
Posted by: Paul Smith at April 17, 2006 09:59 AMYep, I remember the same thing - it was the first episode of Next Generation, with humanity put on trial by the rest of the universe as warlike and expansionist. Hmm, was this perhaps an allegory for the US as a dangerous hegemonic power? Anyway, we (humanity) got a suspended sentence.
Posted by: G Rex at April 17, 2006 11:00 AMAccording to the Star Trek Chronology, it was Picard who informed Q of that NUN edict. And why would Picard invoke that statute if it was "repealed"? It's unlikely Picard wouldn't know of it.
More likely it was Q playing with Picard/humanity as he oft did.
Posted by: Hube at April 17, 2006 05:51 PMThere was this neat exchange about the Cardassian "justice" system in "Tribunal" O'Brien is "interrogated" by his captors until he meets Makbar, who will represent the state in the case against him. However, she refuses to tell O'Brien what charges he faces. Later, on the space station, Sisko is contacted by Makbar, who tells him that, as with all Cardassian trials, O'Brien's serves only a ceremonial function — he has already been proven guilty and will be executed.
Posted by: soccer dad at April 17, 2006 10:10 PM"There are THREE lights!"
Posted by: Bronwen at April 22, 2006 08:59 PM
