United Federation of Planets

The United Federation of Planets (abbreviated as UFP and commonly referred to as the Federation) was an interstellar federal republic, composed of planetary governments that agreed to exist semi-autonomously under a single central government based on the principles of universal liberty, rights, and equality, and to share their knowledge and resources in peaceful cooperation and space exploration. The military and exploratory wing of the Federation is Starfleet.

Ostensibly, government power is divded between the President of the Federation, the Federation Council and the Federation Supreme Court. Since the Changeling panic and Dominion war, actual authority lays with the Supreme Commander of Starfleet and Federation forces, his advisers and appointees.

During the Dominion war, the Federation suffered heavy casualties and destruction leading to a decade's long rebuilding effort. In the years after the war, Leyton's unwillingness to abdicate authority lead to the Federation Civil War, during and after which a number of worlds and starships seceeded from the Federation.