Federation allies classification

[C5]

I was wondering how many types of alliance treaties could exist between the Federation and some other worlds and thought it could be interesting to establish a sort of chain of evolution of relationships (if you played the PC game Birth of the Federation, you may see what I mean), with the respective obligations between the two parties they imply.

Here are the various states of relationships with their implications I thought of :

- Pre-Warp civilisation. No contact allowed with the Federation, stealth observation only.

- Warp civilisation. First contact is allowed.

- Post-first contact (the world is aware of the Federation existence, but nothing further). I guess the PD still applies, but I don't know what sort of contacts are authorised.

- Trade agreements (ex : the Ferengi). Trades are allowed, but nothing much more seems to be permitted.

- Federation ally (ex : the Klingon Empire in TNG). Exchange of technologies, citizens and officers are common.

- Federation member. 'Nuff said.

Any comments or additions ?

I'm especially interested in the "Warp civilisation" and "Post First contact" relationships, as well as some estimation on the proportion of the various relationships.

[Dan Gurden]

Thing is. The Federation as seen on screen is all about peace and diplomacy as a preference, so I could imagine a far larger array of treaties/alliances/trading partners between First Contact and membership.

However they would all be alterations of the basic list. However there are notes to your list that immediatly spring to mind;

- Pre-Warp civilisation. No contact allowed with the Federation, stealth observation only.
Stealth observation is not the norm, only in cases of scientific or cultural interest, through what the civilisation represents, or some genetic link to a known species... But most planets are left to their own devices with some sort of long-distance 'are they in space yet' observation...
This segment would also include 'protectorates', younger civilisations that would be at risk from other Galactic powers but Starfleet is defending to preserve their cultural identity, either with or without their knowledge.

- Warp civilisation. First contact is allowed.
Closely linked to this would be civilisations that undergo accidental first contact but are 20th century equivalents or beyond, where they are gaining the technology at a tremendous rate, and would be estimated that full first contact would occur naturally within a century.

- Post-first contact (the world is aware of the Federation existence, but nothing further). I guess the PD still applies, but I don't know what sort of contacts are authorised.
I imagine that this depends on the contact. In hostile planets, I can see the Federation standing back but keeping a closer eye on the activities, and other visitors to this planet. But far friendlier first contacts might result in an immediate exchange ot cultural and diplomatic ambassadors to hammer out peace and trade treaties...

- Trade agreements (ex : the Ferengi). Trades are allowed, but nothing much more seems to be permitted.

[/i]Somewhere in here are a glutton of alternatives, ranging from cultural, diplomatic and trade agreements, also depending on whether the treaties are with a Single planet or a small empire/collection of planets, or even colony world.

This nebulous segment would also be likely to cover planets that are contacted, but have a closer relationship with another power, such as a Romulan ally world that wishes peaceful contact with the Federation, or the colony planets in the Cardassian DMZ.[/i]

- Federation ally (ex : the Klingon Empire in TNG). Exchange of technologies, citizens and officers are common.

- Federation member.
[/i] This category starts with a petition for membership, which will take several years to complete, during which time the planet would see a reasonable Starfleet presence, along with the Federation embassies...
Then after joining there may be a period of 'probabtion membership' as in the case of the Ktarians, who tried to take over the Federation early in their relationship... I would imagine this would be decided by the Federation council under advisement of Starfleet and the Diplomatic corps.
All of this before full un-restrained membership, even if the alturistic Federation would mean that there was very little difference and probably no difference in what the planet concerned gets out of the deal.[/i]

[Lastly there are the hostile relationships. Ranging from merely hostile but with an exchange of Diplomatic staff, such as the Romulans in the 23rd century, or the Cardassian DMZ where administrative staff from the Cardassian Navy and Starfleet were assigned to liaise with the colonists.

All the way through to all-out war, no diplomatic ties, and lots of Phaser-fire.

To be honest, the diplomatic options of Birth of the Federation were way too limited for my tastes.

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
[Lastly there are the hostile relationships. Ranging from merely hostile but with an exchange of Diplomatic staff, such as the Romulans in the 23rd century, or the Cardassian DMZ where administrative staff from the Cardassian Navy and Starfleet were assigned to liaise with the colonists.

I have a feeling relationships with the Romulans varied drastically through the 23rd century. While they were shooting at each other during the 2260's (and had no diplomatic links), by 2293, they were beyond "merely hostile but with an exchange of Diplomatic staff"... IIRC the Romulan Ambassador was present at a meeting where the President was briefed on a mission of extremely hazy legality (the proposed rescue of Kirk and McCoy from Rura Penthe).

[C5]

First, thanks for the answers.

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
Thing is. The Federation as seen on screen is all about peace and diplomacy as a preference, so I could imagine a far larger array of treaties/alliances/trading partners between First Contact and membership.

However they would all be alterations of the basic list.

This list was not meant at all to be exhaustive. I'm aware there could be many variations on these generic types of relationship

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
However there are notes to your list that immediatly spring to mind;

*SNIP*

- Post-first contact (the world is aware of the Federation existence, but nothing further). I guess the PD still applies, but I don't know what sort of contacts are authorised.
I imagine that this depends on the contact. In hostile planets, I can see the Federation standing back but keeping a closer eye on the activities, and other visitors to this planet. But far friendlier first contacts might result in an immediate exchange ot cultural and diplomatic ambassadors to hammer out peace and trade treaties...

I agree that it depends a lot on the contact. For one thing, there should be some significant difference whether the contacted world is a small Empire/Union of its own, spanning over a few systems, or a single planet like Earth in ST:First Contact.
And of course, everything depends also on the behaviour of the government. I wonder how does the Federation reacts toward a world that manifests no interests toward extended relationships : does it leave it alone, or keep an eye on it should the world's government change its mind ?

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
- Trade agreements (ex : the Ferengi). Trades are allowed, but nothing much more seems to be permitted.

Somewhere in here are a glutton of alternatives, ranging from cultural, diplomatic and trade agreements, also depending on whether the treaties are with a Single planet or a small empire/collection of planets, or even colony world.

This nebulous segment would also be likely to cover planets that are contacted, but have a closer relationship with another power, such as a Romulan ally world that wishes peaceful contact with the Federation, or the colony planets in the Cardassian DMZ.

This I find interesting to develop too. This category was meant to regroup every relationship that was neither an established alliance nor a "post first contact one". Especially interesting here is the applications of the Prime Directive toward these worlds : could they for instance request Federation assistance ?
Since you mention it, I wonder what is the "default status" for a new colony ?

Originally posted by Dan Gurden

Lastly there are the hostile relationships. Ranging from merely hostile but with an exchange of Diplomatic staff, such as the Romulans in the 23rd century, or the Cardassian DMZ where administrative staff from the Cardassian Navy and Starfleet were assigned to liaise with the colonists.

All the way through to all-out war, no diplomatic ties, and lots of Phaser-fire.

I wasn't considering the hostile relationships here... although a classifications of them could be of interest too. I guess it would mainly consist of "No relationships", "Peace treaty (with an optional Neutral Zone or DMZ)" and "War".

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
To be honest, the diplomatic options of Birth of the Federation were way too limited for my tastes.

For mine as well... they were just a handy example of what I had in mind

[AslanC]

And what about the Capellans? And other TOS races that did not have Warp Drive, or even buildings for that matter, which the Federationw ould negotiate mining deals with?

I always wondered about that and the pre-warp rule.

[pesterfield]

The Capellans had already been contacted by the Klingons, also they contacted the Organians(who they believed to be a primitive culture) when it appeared the Klingons would invade.

The PD is to prevent primitive worlds from being exposed to aliens to early and shattering the government/religious institutions/etc.

Basically if someone else has already contacted them, or is definately about to do so, then I think the PD would have an exception for that sort of thing.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Just one thought: How is military equipment handled in trade agreements with the Federation? Would the buy foreign weapon/defense systems?

For instance, they agree to a Trade Agreement with the Ferengi, now would they sell some specific weapon systems or none at all? Would even military software and technology be strictly controlled?

[SIR SIG]

There are also Associate Members and Federation Protectorates eg. the new race in ST:FC (Elayans ??? )

[Phoenix]

Associate Members, rough guess = species that are in their probationary time frame? As I said only a rough guess.

Federation Protectorates = Close allies, normally, unwilling to actually join the Federation. However not all Protectorates need be friendly.

[Dan Gurden]

Federation Protectorates - I dont see them being allies, after all, the alliance could already imply a mutual defence treaty, and the alliance is unlikely to be with a hostile species.

I see the protectorate as a world that the Federation council has, for whatever reason, placed under protection. It could be a earlier culture, unable to defend itself from an enemy, but not yet ready for First Contact, or simply a planet in a strategic location that the Federation cannot let fall into hostile occupation.

As Pheonix said, this would be whether the planet was freindly or hostile towards the Federation, and in the case of Primitive worlds, may even be without their knowledge either.

[Imagus]

I suspect the Federation actually restricts military technology quite heavily, trading it only to those allies it trusts. I can't see them selling it to the Ferengi at all. Remember that the organisation is technically a peaceful one. However, I can also see local officials changing the rules for strategic or personal reasons

An Associate Member would probably be similar to the Observer members at the UN. I suspect they have the right to make their opinion known at Council meetings, but no vote. This would include probationary members, and also those worlds that want restricted links to the Federation (i.e. extensive trade and links, but want to retain their independence, or something similar). Self-governing colonies requiring extensive outside support would fall into the same category.

Protectorates would seem most likely to be those worlds which StarFleet protects, but are not members of the Federation at all. The reasons would vary, but would most likely be strategic - the world has resources that the Federation needs and pays for with the defence role. This status would also apply to worlds within the Federation perimeter that are under the Prime Directive.

I'd be interested to know what people think of worlds within the Federation boundaries that are not members of the Federation. After all, worlds are not forced to join, but the Federation would happily expand around them, and then they'd be isolated - so presumably there would be some kind of arrangement. It's possible that a large chunk of Federation space is occupied by small independent powers. Are these Associates? Or something else?

[Admiral Wolf]

From the FASA Sourcebook The Federation pages 13/14 "Membership in the Federation".

<snip> If the new civlization is accepted into the Federation, it receives either full or associate member status within the Federation's governmental system. Full Member worlds are accorded the right to place a representaive on the Federation Assembly, thus granting them an equal voice in the drafting and passage of Federation legislation. Full member status may also join the Federation Security Council and be elected to administrative and legislative possitions in the UFP gov't<end snip>

<snip> For cultural, political, or philosophical reasons, a member civilization may somethimes object to contributing funds that might, directly or indirectly, be used for military purposes. in such case, that civilization receives Associate Member status. Associate-member status is also given automatically to all Federation colonies with populations of over one million or more inhabitants<end snip>

<snip> associate members have representatives in the Federation Assembly, but these representatives cannot be elected to the Federation Council. Associate members may vote on issues pertaining to the Assembly in general and there representatives may hold possitions within the Judicary or on special committees, but they have less influence than full members.<end snip>

<snip> Whether full member or associate member, the newly admitted civilization is subject to and protected by the laws governing the Federation, as determined by the Federation Assembly and ratified by the Federation Council.<end snip>

<snip> Occasionally, a society or culture not advanced enough to qualify for formal admission will require special consideration by the Federation. In such cases,the Assembly may vote to grant Protectorate Status to the planet, in effect placing a "hands-off" sign on the world. Often this status is applied to newly emerging civilizations under the doctrine of the Prime Directive The intention is to protect the natural and orderly cultural development of a given world from outside interference or 'contamination'.<end snip>

Granted the FASA stuff is old, but the idea is still good, this is what I use as a guide line in my game for the whole Full-Member, Associate-Member, Protectorite-Status, issue.