Political ideas in science fiction

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The exploration of politics in science fiction is arguably older than the identification of the genre. One of the earliest works of modern science fiction, H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, is an extrapolation of the class structure of Great Britain of his time, taking Social Darwinism quite literally; over the course of tens of thousands of years, human beings have evolved into two different species based on their social strata.

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[edit] Speculative societies

Most story and novel-length works of science fiction attempt to speculate (directly or indirectly) on modes of life and behaviour. They are often allegorical — reflecting past, current or potential societies, political institutions and systems. Examples include Harry Harrison's novel Make Room! Make Room!, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin; The Hostile Takeover Trilogy by S. Andrew Swann and many of the works of Philip K Dick. A common theme is the integration of humanity into some wider interstellar society. A popular modern example is the Uplift series by David Brin where a species status is defined based on the concept of biologically uplifting other species.

[edit] Utopian societies

Main article: Utopia

The term Utopia was coined by Thomas More as the title of his Latin book De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (circa 1516), known more commonly as Utopia. He created the word "utopia" to suggest two Greek neologisms simultaneously: outopia (no place) and eutopia (good place). More depicts a rationally organised society, through the narration of an explorer who discovers it — Raphael Hythlodaeus. Utopia is a republic where all property is held in common. In addition, it has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war, but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbours.

Generally speaking, utopias are generally societies whose author believes either perfect, or as perfect as can be attainable. Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia is a contemporary example. This can cause some confusion, in that some works generally recognized as “utopian”, such as Plato’s Republic, can come across as much less than ideal to a modern reader. They are one of the smaller subsets of political science fiction, possibly because it is difficult to create dramatic tension in a world the author believes is perfect. Various authors get around this problem by plotting the story around threats to the utopian society, such as in much of L. Neil Smith. Other ways of presenting a utopian society in science fiction, is to send characters outside it to explore beyond its confines (ala Star Trek), or focus on an outsider character entering the society, as in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. This last method is often used to show that the utopian society shown is actually a dystopia. Kim Stanley Robinson's approach in The Mars Trilogy involved exploring the creation of utopian and ecotopian societies on Mars.

Edenist society in Peter F Hamiltons Nights Dawn Trilogy is a utopian society. All Edenists have a genetic adaptation which allows for a form of telepathy, known as Affinity between other Edenists and their bio-engineered creations, Habitats, Voidhawks and Servitors. Because of Affinity the Edenists are inherently peaceful and live in vast pastoral areas on the interior of huge space habitats.

Another option for a Utopian society can be found in robotocracy, or the rule of Robots or Computers, with the theory that a programmed machine can dispassionately provide for the welfare of all. Examples of this include various works of Isaac Asimov and the planet of Sigma Draconis VI in the Star Trek episode Spock's Brain. If the machine rule becomes harsh or oppressive, it may become a dystopia instead.

[edit] Dystopian societies

Main article: Dystopia

Dystopias are societies where the author illustrates the worst that can happen. Usually this encompasses extrapolating trends the author sees as dangerous. During the 20th Century many examples were written in reaction to the rise of Nazism, Communism and Religious Fundamentalism:

  • Double Helix Fall (1990) by Neil Ferguson portrays an America where a person's social status is determined by their movements in the womb, an extension of the concept of original sin.

It is important to keep in mind that scenarios which some would describe as dystopic, others would describe as utopian. Norman Spinrad's novel The Iron Dream was generally recognised to be a dystopic novel, but lauded by neo-Nazis as a utopia.

[edit] Politics

Often the political focus of a science fiction novel is less on the social order, but how people maneuver and achieve their agendas within a given system. Many space operas rely on vast interstellar bureaucracies to drive their plots (see: Galactic empire). The Retief stories by Keith Laumer and the Chanur books by C. J. Cherryh have politics and political maneuverings as some of the main themes. Often this can descend into conspiracy and paranoia where the premise is that there are secret forces out to get the protagonists, the seminal example of which is the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Most commonly, science fiction deals with the political fallout of its own premises. A story will posit some new event or technology and explore its political dimensions; this includes most techno-thrillers but also encompasses a large body of traditional science fiction. An example is the Phillip K. Dick story Minority Report (upon which the movie starring Tom Cruise is based), which introduces the idea of perfectly predicting a crime of violence so the perpetrator can be arrested before the crime is committed, and the political and legal ramifications of actually using such a system.

[edit] Examples by category

[edit] Honorverse

Many political units depicted by David Weber in Honorverse can be considered utopian or dystopian. The reason for such high number of them is disputed but includes lack of attention to political details and purposeful allegory on today societies and countries.

  • Solarian League is dystopian bureaucratic society, apparently modeled after European Union. There is no central government to speak of, no universal law for all planets, no common foreign policy. The Parliament of the League has no real power over executive branch or government agencies, so it's largely ignored, with the exception of the Eridani Edict, which threatens wide-scale retaliation by the Solarian League armed forces against anyone who bombards any inhabited planet from space with weapons of mass destruction.
  • People's Republic of Haven, totalitarian state showing dangerous consequences of some trends in U.S. politics as observed by author. After decades of "social reforms" and the machinations of deeply entrenched elites and special interest groups PRH has all the worst characteristics of know dictatorships like Imperial Russia, Soviet Russia, Revolutionary France, etc. After a number of political upheavals, the Republic of Haven now has a Federal government similar to the modern day United States.
  • Star Kingdom of Manticore is constitutional monarchy, modeled after idealised Victorian England, that apparently overcame the problem of constant supply of enlightened monarchs. It is also a system of limited-franchise democracy, where the right to vote must be earned by paying taxes exceeding subsidies by at least one cent.
  • Grayson was founded as theocracy of luddites. The Universe, as it appeared, is not without a sense of humor -- the planet Grayson had very high level of heavy metals which made the colonists' very survival dependent on high technology and science. Later in colony's life a group of reactionaries organised coup, which ended in its exile to Masada, where they created even more reactionary theocratic dictatorship.
  • Erewhon, located just beyond the edge of Solarian League territory, was founded by a group of criminal organizations and Mafia families, and while nominally being a republic, is actually run by a triumverate of powerful families, with a fourth powerful family usually acting as a watchdog to ensure that the triumverate families rule responsibly.
  • Torch is a planet of freed Mesan slaves. It didn't share the political turmoil of its real world counterpart and the constitutional monarchy was portrayed by author as an ideal remedy for inherent problems of a society created brutalised people resorting to terror in their fight for freedom.
  • Mesa is a planet ruled by corporations and special interest groups, devoid of any ethics. In later novels it is revealed that the society was founded with a purpose of creating some form of superhuman through eugenics and genetic modification. The other main activity of this world is creation of "inferior" genetic slaves altered to better serve their masters, sold throughout human space by Manpower corporation.

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