Do Real-World Politics Affect Star Trek’s Prime Directive?

The fundamental rule in the Star Trek universe is the Prime Directive , which forbid the super - forward-looking Federation from step in with the developing of less - modern cultures . Of course every gang breaks it regularly , but some crews have broken it more than others . Since Star Trek often tries to make reference to current U.S. political sympathies , we decide to see if there was a relationship between these imaginary violations and what the US was doing in the world . dawn through for a comparison of U.S. overseas flock levels and Star Trek ’s tampering , which may surprise you .

As you’re able to see , Trek ’s bunch have always treated the Prime Directive like a stop number limit on the Interstate . But the high stop of Prime Directive violations was the belated nineties , which surpassed even the late 1960s of Kirk ’s cowman - doctrine .

At the same time , the United States was reducing its scout troop mien around the earth . Why did Starfleet start interfere more , even as America was throwing less of its weight around ? The belated 1990s was an earned run average of military spending cutbacks and al-Qaeda closures , when the U.S. seemed to be less influential without the menace of the Soviet Union to mobilise our own citizens , allow alone our friend .

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I know what you ’re going to say : It ’s all down to Star Trek : Voyager ’s Captain Janeway and her “ anything move ” approach . But first of all , Janeway ’s not the only perpetrator . Ben Sisko on Deep Space Nine also play tight and loose with the Directive more in the late nineties than in its earlier seasons . And the Federation also throw its non - interference principles out the window , in dissimilar way , in both 1998 ’s Star Trek : Insurrection and 2002 ’s Star Trek : curse .

But also , conceive that Voyager is a metaphor for the U.S. ’ more confusing situation after the Cold War . Instead of being one great power face up another ( like the Klingons , Romulan or Borg ) suddenly the Voyager is isolated in a quadrant full of independent musician , each of whom has its own agenda . Just as the Soviets were interchange with Bosnians , Serbs and Kosovans and the U.S. had to form alliances to deal with messy situations , Voyager confront a clustering of war backwash and Janeway has to impress pile with dissimilar race to escape in one piece .

All of which makes us wonder : If Star Trek were on the air as a tv show now , and it take office during an epoch where the Directive applied , would we see few violations ? After all , U.S. troop levels in other country have spring , and we ’re once again involved in a massive showdown overseas . Would a 24th century Trek step more lightly around the galaxy , to counterbalance the United States ’ greater enjoyment of force ?

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