Abstract
The Star Trek franchise, which now includes ten films and five television series, has long provided scholars and fans with rich material for the analysis of politics in general, and United States foreign policy in particular. Many argue that specific episodes and/or elements of the Star Trek mythology—such as alien races and its historical timeline—endorse, critique, or reflect aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Such interpretations are far from uniform. There may be little doubt that the Klingon Empire in Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969) [ST:TOS]2 and such films as Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) corresponds to the Soviet Union and that the United Federation of Planets represents the United States, but is the Cardassian Empire of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) [ST:TNG] and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) [STDS9] Iraq, Nazi Germany, or does it lack a clear referent? For that matter, what does the Borg, the collectivist enemy par excellence and the most popular antagonist in the Star Trek universe, represent? Some suggest the Borg is Japan (Sardar 1999), others Communism (Yates 1997), and cases can be made, for example, for religious fanaticism, Rousseauian democracy, capitalism, forces opposed to multiculturalism, the fear of being consumed, and globalization.3
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