United Federation of Planets

The United Federation of Planets is a major political entity in the Alpha Quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy in Star Trek.

Organization

The Federation is governed by a President and the Federation Council, both of which have offices on Earth. The means by which Federation officials attain their positions has never been clearly described.

Attributes

The Federation, or at least parts of it, seem to operate on a socialist or even communist economic model. Evidence includes the lack of currency in many episodes, descriptions of the Federation's non-capitalist economy base, and government monopolies that appear to control space travel and interstellar communications.

Territory

The Federation consists of approximately 150 member planets spread across approximately 8,000 light-years of space (Star Trek: First Contact).

Threat Assessment

The Federation has technology comparable to that of the other major powers in the Alpha Quadrant. Their military readiness, however, is lacking compared to that of their neighbors. While their ships are individually powerful, often substantially more powerful than those of their neighbors, they tend to be few in number, as indicated by the perpetual shortage of ships in position to respond to military emergencies. Furthermore, many Starfleet officers do not regard Starfleet as a military organization (despites its control of nearly all military assets in the Federation), and Starfleet itself does not conduct routine combat exercises to keep its crews prepared for military action.