The third part of the article deals with the two remaining powers on the Star Trek politics map: the Romulans and the Dominion.
Moshe Goldman, ISF
This is the last part of the instructive article based on a lecture given at the "Worlds 2005" conference.
The Romulans
Unlike the Klingons and the Cardassians, the attitude towards them changes in sharp and emotional ways, the attitude towards the Romulans was generally more moderate. The Romulans never became, not even semblance of, loyal allies. However, they also never "gained" true "big bad" status like the Klingons and the Kardis at different times allegedly did. The Romulans are complex, characterized by extensive internal politics, alternating leaderships, intrigue, ethnocentrism and great attention to power balances of inter-power politics. To a large extent, the Romulans are the best analogy for a modern-day hostile power, such as the Soviet Union or China. Some will call them "evil", some will warn against their tendency to aggression or conquests. However, it is possible that the conflict with them simply stems from their being a foreign power, with its own agenda and interests, which do not match "ours".
Already in the original series, romulans were used to demonstrate an ambivalent attitude towards the "enemy". The first episode in which they appeared was the 14th in the first season of "Star Trek". In this episode, the Enterprise pursues a Romulan ship that destroyed a number of Federation outposts along the Neutral Zone. When the Enterprise finally manages to neutralize the Romulan ship, the Romulan commander tells Kirk that under other circumstances they might have been friends, then destroys his own ship. In the second episode of the third season, "The Enterprise Incident", the series shows again that in war the boundaries between good and bad are blurred. In this episode the Enterprise crew is forced to use trickery and deception in order to obtain a cloaking device from the Romulans.
In the days of "The Next Generation", the Romulans are still in a state of hostility and tension towards the Federation, as can be learned from the last episode of the first season, "The Neutral Zone", and the tenth episode of the third season, "The Defector". As described above, later in the series, the Romulans' attempts to change the systemic status quo increase (the intervention in the Klingon civil war and the failed attempt to take over Vulcan). In this way they get an image of "troublemakers". However, it is worth remembering that throughout this time the Romulans remained faithful to considerations of balance of power and did not start a large-scale war against the Federation or the Klingons. Likewise, Spock's attempt to reunite the Vulcans and the Romulans instills hope, even if faint, for peace one day.
The appearance of the Dominion in the third season of "Deep Space Nine" requires the Romulans to face a new and unfamiliar threat. Their first attempt to do this was in the 17th episode of this season, "Visionary", in which the station was saved from a Romulan destruction attempt. The Romulans planned to collapse the wormhole and thus eliminate the threat of the Dominion. This act of the Romulans is presented as negative. After all, how can we not react negatively to their attempt to kill the viewers' favorite members of the station staff, destroy the entrance to the "heavenly temple" of the prophets, and prevent the possibility of exploring Rabia Gamma? However, on second thought, it is possible that the act the Romulans intended to do was the most logical. After all, if only someone had destroyed the entrance to the wormhole before the Dominion made it invulnerable in the fifth season, then the war would have been avoided and the lives of many millions would have been saved.
Later in the season, as mentioned above, the Romulan Tal-Shiar collaborates with the Cardassian Obsidian Order in a failed attempt to destroy the founders' home world. As a result of this incident, the Tal Shi'ar organization was fatally damaged, and it can be assumed that this led to an internal political storm and a serious leadership crisis. Perhaps this explains the lack of reaction (at least, as far as is known) of the Romulans to the Klingon attack on the Kardis. On the other hand, when the Cardassians join the Dominion in the fifth season and there is a threat of invasion, the Romulans side with the "Alpha Quadrant Forces" and send a fleet to help the station. With this, the Romulans are for the first time on the "side of the good guys".
Unfortunately, this situation did not last long. In the last episode of the fifth season, "Call to Arms", we will find out that the Romulans signed a non-combat agreement with the Dominion. This has a reason to return them to a more negative position, because there is the feeling that by signing this agreement the Romulans are "betraying" the protection of the Alpha Quadrant. Worf puts it this way upon hearing the disturbing news: "I always knew the Romulans were dishonorable!".
However, what could have been the reason for their signing this agreement? Don't the Romulans know that the Dominion will eventually try to take over them too? It is possible that one reason is that the Romulan administration has not yet recovered from the damage to Tal-Shiar, and wants to avoid war at all costs at that time. Another interpretation can be related to systemic power politics. According to the analysis above, as you recall, the Kardes are the traditional potential allies of the Romulans. However, now these allies have been lost to the Dominion. It is possible that the Romulans seek in the non-combat agreement to allow the Dominion, the Federation and the Klingons to exhaust each other, thus avoiding a strategic landing after the end of the war.
In the 19th episode of the sixth season of the series, "In the Pale Moonlight", Cisco comes to the conclusion that without the help of the Romulans the chance of winning the Dominion in the war is small. Sisko tries to fake evidence of a planned Dominion invasion of the Romulan Empire. The ruse fails, but Garek blows up the ship of the Romulan senator to whom Sisko presented the "evidence", making it appear as an attempt by the Dominion to prevent the evidence from reaching the Romulans. In response, the Romulans declare war on the Dominion. The Romulans return, then, to the "camp of the good", but not before the morality of those "good" is corrupted.
Later in the series, the Romulans fight alongside the Klingons and the Federation against the Dominion. However, various chapters show that this will not necessarily lead to a lasting partnership and that disagreements and mutual mistrust continue to exist. In the first pair of episodes for the seventh season, for example, the Romulans set up a weapons depot on one of the Bajoran moons, under the guise of a hospital. Kira discovers this, and threatens them to retreat. The 16th episode of the season, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges (a Latin phrase that means "during war, the law is silent") reveals that the Federation fears the behavior of the Romulans after the war, and that its elements are already working on this matter. This is similar to the United States and the Soviet Union, who, even before the end of the Second World War, negotiated with each other about the future of the world after it.
The Dominion
The Dominion is a different power than all the other powers discussed here. This is not only expressed in their excess power, but also in their behavior and influence on the political system as a whole. The Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans and the Cardassians maintain, most of the time, considerations of the balance of power and avoid as much as possible a large-scale war (even the Klingons usually avoid going to war when they fear that they will not be able to win it). The Dominion, on the other hand, is distinctly interested in conquering all other political entities known to it. Like Louis XIV, Napoleon or Hitler, the Dominion is interested in the elimination of the political system and the establishment of a super government. This makes them, apparently, distinctly "evil".
Moreover, characteristics of the Dominion seem like analogies to historical characteristics of totalitarianism and fascism. The veneration of the "founders" as gods is reminiscent of the veneration of the leader in totalitarian regimes. The cloning of the Jamahadar and the Warta reminds us of the lack of respect for individualism in such regimes. On top of that, the "founders" are infected with racism and believe that they are superior to the "solid ones". Racism such as this has, as we know, been the lot of "negative" regimes throughout history, such as the Axis Powers in World War II. Like Hitler who apparently believed that the Soviets and Americans could not defeat him because they belonged to a degenerate and inferior race, the "Founders" also tend to underestimate their "solid" enemies.
However, even towards the Dominion it is possible to identify throughout the seasons a systematic ambivalent attitude. Despite all of the above, time and again the "wickedness" of the Jamahadar, the Warta and even the founders is questioned. Unlike certain other literary, cinematic and television works, this is not a war between the "sons of light" and the "sons of darkness".
Some notable examples of this matter:
- The racism of the "founders" towards the "solid" stems from the persecutions the founders suffered in the past. Moreover, one of the regular team members of the series, Udo, belongs to the race of the founders. That is, the wickedness of the leaders of the Dominion is not "natural" or found in them from birth, but is the result of historical and social circumstances.
-In the episode "The Abandoned" (3×06 The Abandoned) Udo tries to educate a young Jama'der to abandon the violence that was embedded in his genetic load by the founders, and fails. This can be seen as an analogy for a failed attempt to re-educate a person who was brought up on the knees of "negative" ideologies.
-In the episode "Hippocratic Oath" (4×04 Hippocratic Oath), Bashir and O'Ryan are taken captive by the Jamahadar group. Their leader has been mysteriously cured of his addiction to Catersel White, and wants Bashir to find a cure for his people as well. This attempt ultimately fails, but the episode highlights the fact that the Jama'dar are enslaved to a force stronger than themselves, and the hope (or false hope) of their possible liberation.
-In the episode "To the Death" (4×23 To the Death) the station staff collaborates with the Dominion against the rebel Jama'der group, in order to prevent them from taking over advanced launch technology. The Jama'dar who fight alongside the crew prove to be honorable, eventually killing the Warta in charge of them, Wayon, for doubting their loyalty.
- In episode 6×02 Rocks and Shoals we will examine the character of the Jamahadar again. In the end, they are revealed to be honorable again, compared to the Warta responsible for them, who prefers to cause their deaths so that he himself can be saved. Although they understand this, the Jamahadar must follow orders and go to their deaths knowingly.
-The episode "Treachery, Faith and the Great River" (7×07 Treachery, Faith and the Great River) introduces Wayon 6, a "defective" version of Wayon, who decides to defect to the Federation with the help of Odo. This chapter mainly deals with the question of the veneration of the founders as gods by the Warta, which originates from genetic engineering.
In the above you can see a general statement regarding those who belong to "evil" armies or organizations, such as Nazi army soldiers or members of fundamentalist terrorist organizations. Their essence is, from our point of view, distinctly negative, not to mention evil. There is no doubt about that. However, it must be remembered that they are also, in the end, human beings, for better and especially for worse.
The period after the Dominion War - question marks
For one moment of grace towards the end of "Deep Space Nine", everyone is "good". For the first time, the three old enemies - the Klingons, the Romulans and the Cardassians - are fighting side by side with the Federation for a common goal. Even the founders eventually agree to lay down their weapons, and seem to have experienced some kind of change in their relationship to the solids, following Odo's healing of their illness.
However, difficult question marks arise regarding the future. The question that remains unresolved of all (not to mention neglected by the writers) is the question of the future of the Dominion. The Dominion continues to be, as far as is known, the strongest power in the system. The Founders are still the dictatorial leaders of a vast interstellar empire in the Gamma Quadrant. If indeed the founders experienced a fundamental change in their attitude towards the solids, it must be assumed that there will be extensive internal reforms within the Dominion, and there is doubt regarding its very existence. On the other hand, if the founders want to preserve their power, it will not be possible to ignore the Dominion as a superpower in the future.
An equally interesting question, if not more so, is the question regarding the future of relations between the alpha and beta fourth powers. The Kardes have undergone the most significant change. The Cardassian Union went through a period of several particularly difficult years, perhaps the most difficult in its history. This began with the destruction of the power of the Obsidian Order, and continued with a period of governmental instability, a severe war against the Klingons and finally joining the Dominion. The Dominion War, in particular, hit the Kardis hard. The Dominion used the Cardassian soldiers as cannon fodder for its needs, and when it became known that the Cardassian underground was being established against the Dominion, the Jama'dar began to harm the civilian Cardassian population. Before laying down their weapons, the Dominion forces left devastation on Cardassia, and probably hundreds of millions dead. Undoubtedly, these events will cancel Cardassia's position as a power for a long period of time, and it is not clear whether they will ever be able to regain their previous strength, what the future form of government will be, and what will be the attitude of the other powers towards it.
The Klingons also experienced, so to speak, a significant change with the change of power between Gauron and Martok, the "friend of the Federation". However, there are no known significant "positive" reforms that Martok plans to implement. It is also worth considering the internal instability in the Klingon Empire, which experienced a civil war less than a decade before, and which raises and removes leaders by violent methods. Judging by past experience, it is likely that the Klingons will continue to be fickle allies to the Federation, if not enemies.
The Romulans are not even suspected of having "changed their nature". As mentioned, even before the war ended, it seems that officials in the Federation began to focus on the future of the strained relations with the Romulan Star Empire. It was and remains a competing and dangerous power. In light of the declining status of the Cardassians, the Romulans are again at a disadvantage against a possible alliance of the Federation and the Klingons, and there is uncertainty regarding their behavior in light of this situation. The events of the movie "Nemesis" seem to add more uncertainty, not reduce it.
In addition to these old powers, the final period of the Dominion War added another important player, the Breen race. In light of their partnership with the Dominion against the old powers, it is no longer possible to ignore the Breen in the calculation of the systemic power relations. It is difficult to imagine what his relations with the old powers will be, and what alliances he will enter into.
In any case, one must assume that the future of inter-power politics in the Star Trek universe will remain volatile and complicated, unless a single power succeeds in taking over the entire system. The international political world that we will discover before our eyes in the "Star Trek" series is a world of considerations of power, alliances and interests. The federation does, indeed, try to support and spread its ideological ideas, but in practice it often succumbs to "realistic" considerations. Therefore, the series and movies often deceive with the identities of enemies and friends, and provoke thought about the reality of international political life in our world.
Thanks to Uri Aviv, Subatoi and members of the "Star Trek" forum in Tafuz for their help in collecting the material.
Thanks to the "Worlds 2005" faculty for hosting the original lecture.
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