THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

MAIN DISCUSSION

APPLYING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE TO WARP-CAPABLE SOCIETIES

The United Federation of Planets refused to intervene or even supply aid to the Bajorans following the brutal Cardassian occupation of Bajor in the early 24th century, on the grounds that the occupation was an internal matter of the Cardassian government and that to assist the Bajorans would violate the Prime Directive. The Bajorans resented and distrusted the Federation throughout and long after the occupation ended due to that attitude. Detractors of that Federation policy would argue that it should not have been viewed as an internal matter of the Cardassian government but viewed as invasion of one sovereign state by another; in 20th century Earth terms the United Nations could have decided not to assist Kuwait after Iraq occupied it on the grounds that it was an Iraq internal matter, but certain U.N. nations did intervene on the grounds that Iraq had violated the sovereignty of another state (there were also self-interested motives involving, for instance, oil and the military/political stability of the region). In those circumstances, detractors of the Prime Directive and of the Federation's policy toward the Bajoran occupation would argue that the Prime Directive was used as an excuse not to act, and that not to intervene was a morally reprehensible act due to the lack of humanitarian considerations ('humanitarian' meaning the concept, not specifically referring to the human species). However, those in favour of the Federation's policy toward the Bajoran occupation would argue that some of the reasons for the existence of the Prime Directive is that no one has the right to impose their own standards on others and it exists precisely to avoid giving into temptation and that, though difficult, it is an ultimately beneficial principle.

Captain Picard several times applies the non-interference directive to spacefaring societies, e.g. in [TNG: Redemption]. In [DS9], Sisko's superior orders the evacuation of Deep Space 9 citing the Prime Directive - see section above 'ALLEGORY FOR OFF-SCREEN 20TH/21ST CENTURY EARTH'.

Likewise in [Voyager], Captain Janeway on more than one occasion applies the Prime Directive to a situation which does not involve a pre-warp civilisation e.g. the Pralor automated personnel units in [#29 Prototype], and she chastises Seven for violating the Prime Directive by waking from stasis the Vaadwaur male named Gedrin in [#127 Dragon's Teeth]. How it feels to experience enforcement of the Prime Directive against oneself is experienced by Janeway and her crew in [#10 Prime Factors] when the Sikarian spacefaring civilisation declines to speed Voyager homeward because of the Sikarians' equivalent of the Prime Directive.

[TNG: Justice] does not explain whether the Edo people are pre-warp or were aware of offworld space travellers prior to the Enterprise-D's arrival. When Picard brings Rivan to the Enterprise's observation lounge, she identifies the interdimensional ship as "God", saying that she or her people have seen it before - where? in drawings on the planet surface or out in space? If the latter then the Edo are spacefaring people. They also are accustomed to Enterprise personnel beaming up and down. If the Edo are a pre-warp people, when Wesley Crusher is sentenced to death, the violation of the Prime Directive has already occurred and the issue of rescuing him, though it would exacerbate a difficult political exacerbating matters, would not really matter.