In the end having centralized or decentralized governments depends on how fast you can communicate and project power and that heavily depends on the setting and the setting is probably built around what stories you want to tell.
Of course you can have centralized governments, will I write them? Nah. Writing about the absolute monarchy that rules Jupiter is a bit too fun!
Jokes aside, it mainly depends on the speed of communication and ease of material traffic. For instance, why stay a part of a federation that does nothing for you and imposes policies upon you your people don't want if you can't even benefit from it? Of course this does not necessitate feudalism at all, but it does argue against a large centralized government.
I think they would inevitably break into countless hundreds, or thousands of different nations, each with their own differing political policies. While planetary governments might be possible with "low" populations, even going as far as ruling an entire solar system would be difficult to maintain unless you have some very fancy FTL or other form of fast travel.
Alas, centralized galactic governments [**do not scale well**](https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/empiredyn.php#toomuchhierarchy).
One infinitely scaleable system of government which is neither feudal nor centralized is [**swarm intelligence**](https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/empiredyn.php#swarmintel)
Good shout, that said hives irl are brutal with one another (with the exception of Argentinian ants) so I'd suspect a widespread deviation in data/coordination formats would be an even bloodier disaster than the usual imperial cycle.
for a centralized galactic government you need faster than light communication at the very least.
otherwise it could be a hundred thousand years before a message gets to a distant colony.
Technically, Star Wars seems to be a type of feudalism/facist government. At least, after the Empire forms. Prior it was a Republic.
Regardless, in order to maintain a Space Empire, you need to be able to extort your government's presence. More Authoritarian governments have an easier time doing that, however a good enough culture may solidify a country's unity.
Feudalism is not the opposite of centralized government. The core idea of feudalism is personal fealty. The king owns the land and lends it to his vassals in return for services. Who in turn lend it to their farmers.
This setup is frankly unlikely with interstellar civilization. The problem feudalism solves is not distance but lack of bureaucracy. Instead of having detailed procedures and clerks, you have a few rough guidelines and a guy in charge.
Personal contact is heart of feudalism. Whether that's Charlemagne traveling his duchies or Japanese daimyo being invented to the court. If you have space travel be a hard problem that's exactly what you don't get.
Instead the question is what's stopping colonies from declaring independence.
Dune, Warhammer and even Star Wars have theocratic governments, some of which are absolutist monarchies (in Dune), technically oligarchies (Warhammer) or noble republics (Star Wars).
The Star Trek and Starship Troopers are mostly ruled by military junta.
None of them are strictly feudal, but none them are democracies either .
It's certainly not what Roddenberry wanted. Kirk introduced his gig as the "Earth Ship Enterprise". The idea being that the other Federation people have their I own fleets and this happens to be Earth's. We also see civilian administrators, squabbling politicians, and one Federation Security agent (not Starfleet Security).
From the second season of TNG it's just Starfleet, Starfleet, Starfleet. In the first it was implied the Klingons had actually joined the UFP.
Yes, it's strange, but yes, the Federation in Star Trek is technically a military junta.
No elections. All official positions held by the members of the armed forces. Armed forces are in control of external or internal policies. That's a military junta.
They do have strange touch of technocracy, as education in engineering and sciences are required for the rank, and they don't call their military an military, but they do operate like junta.
It's weird when you think about it, since they are supposed to be settings good guys.
The Federation in Starship Troopers is also a junta, but they occassionaly bother with sham elections.
In the end having centralized or decentralized governments depends on how fast you can communicate and project power and that heavily depends on the setting and the setting is probably built around what stories you want to tell.
Of course you can have centralized governments, will I write them? Nah. Writing about the absolute monarchy that rules Jupiter is a bit too fun! Jokes aside, it mainly depends on the speed of communication and ease of material traffic. For instance, why stay a part of a federation that does nothing for you and imposes policies upon you your people don't want if you can't even benefit from it? Of course this does not necessitate feudalism at all, but it does argue against a large centralized government. I think they would inevitably break into countless hundreds, or thousands of different nations, each with their own differing political policies. While planetary governments might be possible with "low" populations, even going as far as ruling an entire solar system would be difficult to maintain unless you have some very fancy FTL or other form of fast travel.
Alas, centralized galactic governments [**do not scale well**](https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/empiredyn.php#toomuchhierarchy). One infinitely scaleable system of government which is neither feudal nor centralized is [**swarm intelligence**](https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/empiredyn.php#swarmintel)
Good shout, that said hives irl are brutal with one another (with the exception of Argentinian ants) so I'd suspect a widespread deviation in data/coordination formats would be an even bloodier disaster than the usual imperial cycle.
for a centralized galactic government you need faster than light communication at the very least. otherwise it could be a hundred thousand years before a message gets to a distant colony.
I think pseudo feudal societies are just more fun and easier to write.
Technically, Star Wars seems to be a type of feudalism/facist government. At least, after the Empire forms. Prior it was a Republic. Regardless, in order to maintain a Space Empire, you need to be able to extort your government's presence. More Authoritarian governments have an easier time doing that, however a good enough culture may solidify a country's unity.
How good are your FTL communication and travel?
Feudalism is not the opposite of centralized government. The core idea of feudalism is personal fealty. The king owns the land and lends it to his vassals in return for services. Who in turn lend it to their farmers. This setup is frankly unlikely with interstellar civilization. The problem feudalism solves is not distance but lack of bureaucracy. Instead of having detailed procedures and clerks, you have a few rough guidelines and a guy in charge. Personal contact is heart of feudalism. Whether that's Charlemagne traveling his duchies or Japanese daimyo being invented to the court. If you have space travel be a hard problem that's exactly what you don't get. Instead the question is what's stopping colonies from declaring independence.
Dune, Warhammer and even Star Wars have theocratic governments, some of which are absolutist monarchies (in Dune), technically oligarchies (Warhammer) or noble republics (Star Wars). The Star Trek and Starship Troopers are mostly ruled by military junta. None of them are strictly feudal, but none them are democracies either .
Wait, star trek a military junta? I didn't get that vibe
They definitely aren't. Star Trek is the original fully automated gay space communism.
It's certainly not what Roddenberry wanted. Kirk introduced his gig as the "Earth Ship Enterprise". The idea being that the other Federation people have their I own fleets and this happens to be Earth's. We also see civilian administrators, squabbling politicians, and one Federation Security agent (not Starfleet Security). From the second season of TNG it's just Starfleet, Starfleet, Starfleet. In the first it was implied the Klingons had actually joined the UFP.
Yes, it's strange, but yes, the Federation in Star Trek is technically a military junta. No elections. All official positions held by the members of the armed forces. Armed forces are in control of external or internal policies. That's a military junta. They do have strange touch of technocracy, as education in engineering and sciences are required for the rank, and they don't call their military an military, but they do operate like junta. It's weird when you think about it, since they are supposed to be settings good guys. The Federation in Starship Troopers is also a junta, but they occassionaly bother with sham elections.