The Politics of State Building

Abstract

S tar Trek: Enterprise the television series is a prequel to the original series. Thus whereas the original series is set in the twenty-third century, Enterprise takes place in the twenty-second. Enterprise, which was cancelled after four seasons (2001–5), specifically takes up the issue of state-building—that is, the creation of the Federation—with the show concluding with the founding of the interstellar organization. Whereas earlier iterations of the Star Trek franchise centered the domestic politics of the Earth in terms consistent with Marxism (e.g., the Bell Uprising), the movie First Contact and Enterprise seemingly draw their inspiration from the ideation of Carl Schmitt and the German Nazi Party. In the context of Germany’s Weimar Republic, Schmitt argued that the basis of politics is the “friend/enemy” dichotomy, and that the core of political stability was a strong executive who had great latitude in declaring states of emergency and decision making in such instances. The Blond Beast existed in Nazi imagery—handsome, chiseled, and honorable—as the best, highest example of the human species. The Nazis cast themselves as freeing the Blond Beast from the constraints imposed on him by the likes of bankers and communists.