United Earth

United Earth is the single world government of the planet Earth and her colonies. The term covers both the historical independent state that existed from 2112 to 2161 and the continuing, semi-independent sub-division of the United Federation of Planets that now governs the same area. (the exact politics of the Federation are a complex affair, and with United Earth being a Federal state of various Earth nations and colonies, it essentially forms layers of "Federation on Federation")

## History

The precursor to United Earth could be said to be the United Nations, formed in 1945 in the aftermath of the 2nd World War. Although largely successful in the 20th and early 21st Centuries at preventing a third global conflict, even launching expeditions to colonise Luna and Mars, the organisation collapsed with the outbreak of the Eugenics Wars. Even after the defeat of the Great Khans, the nations of Earth entrenched into superblocs, eventually leading to "The Collapse" and the Third World War.

It was not until after First Contact and clawing their way out of the Post-Atomic Horror that mankind began to reunite, not into superblocs for domination, but into democratic governments for the betterment of the species. By the dawn of the 22nd Century, the first governments had emerged, namely the Sino-Indian League, Independent Australia, and United Africa. The more critically damaged areas of Earth, North America and Europe, took slightly longer to form into cohesive governments, with the former North American Alliance becoming the New United States and Europe (broken as a sovereign state since before The Collapse) becoming the European Hegemony.

In 2112, these new nations took the extraordinary step to form the New United Nations, and with it the charter of United Earth. Far stronger than the loose ideals and organisation of the original UN, the New United Nations formed a Federal Government over that of all humanity. This wasn't as entirely altruistic as it first appeared, as it proved much easier having a single, centralised government dealing with the multitudes of other races (Vulcans included) that humanity was encountering.

As the new United Earth (the term was originally a colloquialism, but soon gained popularity and became the official one in 2120) expanded, her new colonies were brought into the fold first as individual countries under the charter of the New United Nations, and as her territory expanded and colonies gained power and significance, as equals to Earth herself (in theory anyway, as Earth always had the power of veto).

This situation did not always suit her colonists, and even early on there were those who wanted to live independently of the rules they felt were forced upon them by the government of Earth. The dependence of early colonisation efforts on support from Earth meant early independence movements were usually quashed simply through conveniently delayed supply freighters (denied by the government of course). However, by 2139 the situation on Eden, the first extra-solar Earth colony, in Alpha Centauri had reached a critical point. Eden had reached a point of resource independence, although still required investment in terms of more advanced materials and expertise in order to grow. Unhappy with what they felt to be expansion at the expense of development (particular the attention paid to the joint colony in Eta Cassiopeia), in 2140 the people of Eden declared independence from Earth, forming the Independent Republic of Alpha Centauri.

In order to prevent a repeat of the situation on Eden, the United Earth government focused new attention on developing already colonised worlds, and authorised private colonisation efforts. Independent colonies were usually extremely small, a few hundred colonists at maximum, such as Camp Peters in the Paris System, and were rather cynically not usually authorised to systems that were considered to be worthwhile colonising or part of the government's future expansion plans. They essentially served as a "safety valve", allowing the frustrated elements of society a seemingly free reign to settle a world and live as they wish, and in the process spreading humanity to the stars, sparing "proper" colonies from their disruptive influences.

One side effect however (although, the problem had been on the rise since the spread of commercial warp drive) was the increasing number of uncharted settlements, often home to people who might be considered social outcasts. This led to the rebirth of a very old profession; Piracy. Although United Earth had had a space agency, the United Earth Space Probe Agency, since 2114, she had been dedicated to a peaceful existence with her neighbours and had rejected a military arm. Pirate attacks on civilian shipping and even UESPA supply ships saw the introduction of the Amarillo Class Cruiser, Earth's first dedicated class of warship, in 2143. These were initially operated by UESPA, but in 2145 with her military role increasing, the military roles performed by UESPA were split off into a separate organisation, the newly formed United Earth Star Navy (UESN).

Whilst successful at stemming the tide of pirate attacks, in 2150 a number of colonies came under attack from powerful unidentified vessels. The attackers, later identified as having originated from near the distant system of Romii, were halted only through considerable losses. Learning that these invaders were known as the Romulans from the Orions, whose traders had some limited contact with them previously, the resulting conflict became known as the Earth-Romulan War.

Through shrewd diplomatic dealings, the war eventually came to involve the Orion State (whose territory had been violated by Romulan war fleets), and the usually opposed powers of the Tellarite Confederation and the Andorian Star Empire, as well as Earth's ally, the Confederation of Vulcan. Together these powers formed the wartime Confederation of Planets, united in their goal of driving the Romulan Star Empire back to their territory and forcing an end to the war by any means necessary (with the Admiralty in the UESN believing a full-scale invasion of Romulan space would be the only way to force them to capitulate.)

As it was, the threat of invasion was enough, and the war came to a successful end for United Earth and the Confederation of Planets in 2161. The war had galvanised the five powers together, and later that year they formed into the peacetime United Federation of Planets. United Earth ceased to be a truly independent entity, although continued to be an administrative sub-division of the new Federation.

## Politics

As a Federal Government, United Earth is comprised of representatives of every member country under it's jurisdiction. Prior to the formation of the United Federation of Planets, United Earth had a number of colonies, one of which (Alpha Centauri) declared independence and joined the Federation as a separate member. These colonies were initially admitted as Earth countries would be, later being upgraded to the same classification as Earth herself (although Earth always possessed a veto).

### Criticism

Prior to the formation of the Federation, United Earth had an aggressive colonial policy. Colonies that sought independence found their supply freighters delayed, although this was firmly denied by the powers that be. After the successful bid for independence by Alpha Centauri, the new policy of allowing private colonisation efforts proved to be equally cynical, being used to segregate and isolate "undesirable" individuals from officially sanctioned and controlled colonies. Whilst perhaps intended by some idealists to allow these individuals to live as they wished far from others, the end result was groups of disillusioned young men who rapidly turned to piracy.