Jumpgate #113 - Sleeping in Light
Added 2024-09-24 13:00:13 +0000 UTCWe've finally hit the series finale of Babylon 5 on the Jumpgate podcast. It's been a long road (and there is still a bit of road to go with the spinoff Crusade and the movies that we'll be covering) but it's a bittersweet ending as we say goodbye to this wonderful series.
Comments
So I think your & Vera's distant about Sheridan being president for 18 years stems from thinking about the Interstellar Alliance in terms of Star Trek's Federation rather than in terms of what I think JMS clearly intended it to be conceived as--a more robust version the United Nations. In Star Trek the Federation president is chief executive & elected by the population of the Federation as a whole & has real power, though that power is limited by the legislature, the Federation Council. While there is absolutely some degree of federalism with member planets having their own democratic governments that set policy on their respective worlds, all of it is subject to laws passed by the Federation Council & the Federation gov't works to implement policy passed by the Council across all worlds. In TNG & DS9 they talk about how when new worlds join the Federation their militaries are integrated (at least partially) into Starfleet & a big locus of lawmaking becomes the Federation Council on Earth. The United Nations in contrast has a pretty profound limitations on what it can do. It doesn't have a military of its own (though particular nations can send peacekeepers), its bureaucracy is very limited, it's not only not the primary provider of social services it's not even intended to be. The station Babylon 5 in seasons 1 & 2 seems to function as UN-in-space headquarters with the structures of the UN--security council comprises of the most powerful space powers--with other small powers also being represented & having some say. The Interstellar Alliance while stronger than the UN-in-space of the 1st & 2nd seasons doesn't seem to me to be strong state like Federation, it seems much weaker. The best real world analogy for the Alliance might be how the EU has evolved today. So if Sheridan's powers as president are more limited, him serving longer seems less dubious to me. That said, 18 years really does seem to long!
Conrad
2024-09-25 20:57:33 +0000 UTC
