United Federation of Planets

Facts

• Full name: United Federation of Planets
• Common name: Federation
• Founded: August 12, 2161
• Center of Government: Palais de la Concorde, Paris, France, Earth
• Population: 9.85 trillion
• Membership
  • 10 member nations as of March 2166 (ENT Novel: Patterns of Interference)
  • Over 150 members as of October 2373 (First Contact)
  • 155 member nations as of December 2380 (Novel: Articles of the Federation)
  • Federation Members
  • Individual members still hold some degree of sovereignty, including continuity of government following membership and sharing ambassadors between one another
    • Federation membership largely to facilitate interplanetary cooperation and trade and provide for interplanetary defense
    • Regular Prime Ministers' Conference held for heads of state for individual members to meet, discuss shared issues (ENT Novel: A Choice of Futures)
• Method of government
  • Described and established by Articles of the Federation
  • Executive
    • Led by President
      • Election held once every four years (TNG Novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)
        • Direct election by all Federation citizens among those nominated by the Council (TNG Novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)
        • Elections held in November, president takes oath of office immediately following confirmation of results
      • No term limits
      • In event of resignation or death, special election is held for remainder of term
      • Federation Presidents
    • Office of the President directed by Chief of Staff
      • Has authority over all staff in the Palais
      • Often serves as advisor to the President
      • Granted high security clearance to support them
      • Administration specific, comes and goes with the President
      • Federation President Chiefs of Staff
    • Divided into various departments
      • Departments formed by Council, filled by Executive appointment with Council approval
      • Led by Secretaries
        • Collection of Secretaries known as Presidential Cabinet
        • Cabinet Members
      • Commissioners implement policy in field, meet regularly at regional departmental conferences
        • Federation Commissioners
    • Departments:
      • Agriculture
      • Commerce
      • Defense
        • Starfleet falls under jurisdiction of Federation Department of Defense, though only Federation President is in Starfleet chain of command, not Federation Secretary of Defense
      • Exterior
        • Foreign policy
      • Housing
      • Science and Technology (est. 2161)
      • Temporal Investigations (est. 2270)
      • Travel
        • Transportation
    • Ambassadors
      • Selected by President, confirmed by the Council
      • Traditionally resign at the conclusion of a President's administration, incoming President can offer continuance of role or select new ambassador in their place (Novel: Articles of the Federation)
      • Ambassadors kept both between Federation and foreign powers and between member nations
        • Latter likely appointed by individual member states, not under total Federation jurisdiction
      • Federation Ambassadors
      • Foreign ambassadors received by the President
  • Legislative and Judicial
    • Led by Federation Council
      • President serves as presiding official
      • Each member nation represented by one councillor
      • Method of selection determined individually by each member nation
      • Service indefinite
      • Federation Councillors
      • Sessions convene once every six months, three weeks of recess between sessions
        • Councillors must be present at the start of a new session or they may not participate until next session
    • Includes various standing committees
      • Archaeology Council
      • External Affairs Council
      • Intelligence Council
      • Judiciary Council
        • Equivalent of supreme court (assumedly establishes civilian court system in this respect, but not specified)
        • Also serves as legal advisory board for the President, akin to attorney general
      • Science Council
      • Security Council
        • 13 member body consisting of five councillors representing the founding members, eight nominated by President and confirmed by the Council