FEDERATION

The United Federation of Planets, UFP, or "The Federation"

Federation is described as an interstellar federal state with more than 150 member planets and thousands of colonies spread across 8,000 light years of the Milky Way Galaxy ( Alpha and Beta Quadrants ). The Federation also maintains its own military and exploratory agency, Starfleet.

The United Federation of Planets has existed as part of the Star Trek universe since the first season of the original series.

The Federation is described as stressing, at least nominally, the values of universal liberty, equality, peace, and cooperation. The legislature of the Federation Council is depicted as being headquartered in a building located in San Francisco. Several other bodies of the Federation have been depicted. There is an executive branch headed by a Federation President, who keeps offices in the Palais de la Concorde, Paris. There is a judiciary branch as well, the highest court of which is the Federation Supreme Court. The Federation's scientific, diplomatic and defensive/military arm is Starfleet, depicted as being headquartered at the Presidio in San Francisco.

The Federation is described as having come into military conflict at various times with the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Tholian Assembly, the Cardassian Union, the Tzenkethi, the Borg Collective, the Dominion, and the Breen Confederacy. The Federation has also been in conflict with the Ferengi Alliance, the Sheliak Corporate, and the Talarian Republic, although the show's creators have never made it explicit as to whether these disputes amounted to formal states of war.