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In the fictional universe of Star Trek, the Prime Directive, Starfleet's General Order
Varying Definitions The Prime Directive is never stated within the show, allowing writers great freedom in defining it and using it. This has led some writers to understand the directive as an analogue of Westphalian sovereignty, and thus applicable even beyond the pre-warp context. The Vulcans may have originated the Prime Directive, as it is stated in Star Trek: First Contact that but for Zefram Cochrane's historic warp flight, a passing Vulcan ship would have deemed Earth unready for contact and ignored the planet. In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Observer Effect," it is revealed that the Organians also adhere to a form of the Prime Directive. However, as Starfleet does not officially make first contact with the Organians until the TOS episode "Errand of Mercy," it is unknown what impact, if any, they had on the development of the directive. Origins It appears that the non-interference concept originated with Vulcans and predated the formation of the Federation in 2161 but did not exist on pre-Federation Earth. The Prime Directive was not actually written into law until some years after the formation of the Federation — in the original series episode "A Piece of the Action", an early Federation ship visits a primitive planet and leaves behind several items which alter the planet's culture significantly (as did the book Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties, which the inhabitants quickly seized upon as a blueprint for their entire society). In real life, the creation of the Prime Directive is generally credited to Gene L. Coon, although there is some contention as to whether science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, who wrote of the Prime Directive in an unused script for the original series, actually came up with it first. (In fact, the Prime Directive appears fully-formed as much as two decades earlier in Robert A. Heinlein's 1948 novel Space Cadet, which describes a military organization very similar to Star Trek's Starfleet). The Prime Directive closely mirrors the zoo hypothesis explanation for the Fermi paradox. Discussion Star Trek stories have used the Prime Directive as a literary device which allows the exploration of interactions with less advanced societies without the heroes having the overwhelming advantage of easy access to and use of their technology. Since Star Trek has consistently used alien interactions as an allegory for the real world, the Prime Directive has served as a template to tell stories which resemble those of real human societies and their interactions with less technologically advanced societies, such as the interaction between advanced cultures and indigenous peoples. In the philosophical view of Star Trek, no matter how well intentioned the more advanced peoples are, interaction between advanced technology and a more primitive society is invariably destructive. In the fictional storyline, the Prime Directive was created by Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets shortly after they were first formed. Since then the Prime Directive has been broken on many occasions intentionally and unintentionally. Sometimes when a Federation starship or vessel crashes on a planet that has a pre-warp civilization the survivors or the wreckage are collected by the natives and this then influences their society, especially when Federation technology is recovered and added to the technology of the planet. Sometimes the Directive is deliberately violated; circa stardate 2534.0 (2266), cultural observer and historian John Gill openly created a regime based on Nazi Germany on a primitive planet in a misguided effort to create a more benign version of the original. However, the intervention proved disastrous with the regime adopting the same racial supremacist and genocidal ideologies of the original. By the time of the era of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Prime Directive was indicated to apply not only to just pre-warp civilizations, but to any culture with whom Starfleet comes into contact. In such situations, the Prime Directive forbids any involvement with a civilization without the expressed consent or invitation of the lawful leaders of that society, and absolutely forbids any involvement whatsoever in the internal politics of a civilization. This understanding of the Prime Directive resembles the concept of Westphalian sovereignty in political science. For example, when the provisional government of the planet Bajor experienced a power struggle that nearly led to civil war, Deep Space Nine Commander Ben Sisko's superior explicitly cited the Prime Directive, and ordered him to evacuate all Starfleet personnel from the station, as the situation was deemed internal to Bajor, even though it was known that the Cardassians were supplying weapons to one side. An earlier example occurred when the Klingon Empire experienced a brief civil war of its own, and Captain Picard refused Chancellor Gowron's request of aid for the same reason, even though he was the legitimate ruler of the Empire, and even though the Romulans were suspected of supplying weapons to the opposing side. (Although the Prime Directive was not explicitly mentioned, it is presumable that this was the pertinent basis for Picard's refusal, in light of the latter example on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.) On Star Trek: Voyager, the Prime Directive was used more than once as a plot device as well, and on more than one occasion, Captain Janeway also applied the Prime Directive to a situation which clearly did not involve a pre-warp civilization. Also, in at least two different situations, the Prime Directive or a policy similar to it was used against Janeway and her crew, wherein they encountered civilizations that had technology which could shorten their journey home, but were denied access to it because the alien cultures likewise had policies against sharing advanced technology with other races. The Prime Directive is superseded by only one other directive, the Omega Directive. Implications The concept of non-interference can be seen to prevent foreign contamination of native unique language and customs. On the other hand, dedication to non-interference has been shown to go beyond this. The dedication is such that by 2364 Starfleet had allowed six races to die out. In at least one case (TOS episode 'A Private Little War'), where two different factions of one race were at war with each other, the Prime Directive had been interpreted to mean that neither side could have an advantage, that there had to be a balance of power. With this race, when it was found that Klingons were furnishing one portion of the race with advanced weapons, Kirk responded by arming the other faction with the same weapons. This resulted in an arms race on that world, and was seen as a fictionalized parallel to the then-current Cold War arms race, in which the United States often armed one side of a dispute and the Soviet Union responded by arming the other. A similar arms race served as the backstory of the TNG episode "Too Short a Season." Conversely, Voyager Captain Janeway refused to allow the Kazon-Nistrim and the Kazon-Ogla to have replicator technology, believing it would tip the balance of power among the Kazon factions. On a planet that had two indigenous sentient species, the more advanced one was suffering from a degenerative genetic disorder. A cure was not pursued because it was determined that the more advanced species was genetically stagnant, and that the lesser one was genetically progressive. It was viewed as contrary to nature to help the dying race. Despite the fact that this event took place in the series Star Trek: Enterprise, before the formation of both the Federation and the Prime Directive, it reflects the views of space-faring humans and their allies in the years leading up to the creation of the Federation (ENT episode "Dear Doctor"). In another case, a starship stood by and watched as the loss of a planet's atmosphere was about to wipe out the last remaining members of a primitive civilization, rather than interfere to save their lives (TNG episode "Homeward"). However, the Federation observer refused to stand by, and violated the Prime Directive by saving a small group of that civilization. There are different conclusions as to the purpose of non-interference. One is that the ends do not justify the means. No matter how well-intentioned, stepping in and effecting change could have disastrous consequences. Another conclusion (strongly implied in the ENT episode "Dear Doctor") is a belief that evolution has a 'plan' of sorts, driving species toward purposes. Interference would therefore be unnatural, in that it would go against what is supposed to happen to the species in question. Some may see the Prime Directive as a negative policy, because it prevents introduction of technology (especially medical technology), culture, and resources that may improve quality of life. It also has been considered an attitude of moral cowardice by the Federation — that the Prime Directive gives the Federation an excuse not to act. During the brutal Cardassian occupation of Bajor in the early 24th century, the Federation refused to act on the grounds that the occupation was an internal matter of the Cardassian government and to help the Bajorans would violate the Prime Directive. Many Bajorans resented the Federation for years after the occupation because of this attitude. Those in favor of the Prime Directive have said that no one has the right to impose their own standards on others and it is hardly moral cowardice to keep to a difficult, but ultimately beneficial principle in the face of temptation. Inconsistent application One clearly valid complaint regarding the Prime Directive is that it is inconsistently applied, depending on a planet's strategic importance or the circumstances in which a starship crew finds itself. For example, Captain Kirk was ordered to make contact with the seemingly pre-industrial Organians in Errand of Mercy. In addition, Kirk directly interfered with the laws or customs of alien worlds in Friday's Child, For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, The Cloud Minders, The Apple, The Return of the Archons, and A Taste of Armageddon, in order to achieve a Federation objective, to save the lives of his crew, or both. Nevertheless, when the Federation does interfere, regardless of the circumstances that prompted such actions, Starfleet usually attempts to minimize any possible cultural contamination. In The Paradise Syndrome, the Enterprise attempts to save a pre-industrial planet by moving an asteroid that was on a collision course with it. In Homeward and Star Trek: Insurrection, in which pre-industrial or seemingly pre-industrial civilizations were to be secretly relocated, the plan was to use holodeck simulations of their home planets during transit. In Pen Pals, Captain Picard rectifies contact with an inhabitant of a pre-warp planet by ordering her memory wiped. When contamination became too serious to be fixed by memory wipes, Captain Picard decided to make direct contact with a civilization's leaders in Who Watches the Watchers? and First Contact. Finally, in Natural Law, the Voyager crew took measures to ensure the protected isolation of a primitive people, even from a more advanced civilization who share the same planet. In contrast, the TNG episode Justice did not fully explain whether the Edo people were pre-warp or were aware of offworld space travelers. If the case is the former, then when Wesley Crusher is sentenced to death, the violation of the Prime Directive has already occurred and the issue of rescuing him, while politically exacerbating matters, would be moot in terms of the Directive. While no prosecution for a violation of the Prime Directive was ever seen on Star Trek television series or films, Picard's nine documented violations are held as evidence against him during a witch-hunt investigation in The Drumhead. Additionally, the non-canonical novel Prime Directive, by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, deals with the political and career fallout from a violation allegedly committed by Kirk. 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