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star trek - Has the Federation ever forced the Prime Directive on other species?


We all know that Starfleet officers follow the Prime Directive but are they duty bound to stop other races from interfering in other civilizations? If not, then what stops someone like the Cardassians or the Romulans from taking over pre-warp civilizations?




Answer



Starfleet General Order 1 applies ONLY to Starfleet. The Prime directive does not apply universally inside of Federation space, nor are non-Starfleet officers and non-Federation officials expected to uphold it. The Federation cannot enforce this even against its own citizenry, if the citizen is not acting as an agent of the government. To quote Memory Alpha (emphasis mine):



The fundamental principles were an important part of Earth Starfleet procedures as early as 2152, but it did not go into effect as a General Order until sometime after 2168. (ENT: "The Communicator"; TOS: "A Piece of the Action") The directive remained in effect well into the 24th century and applied to at least Starfleet and Merchant Marine personnel, but specifically did not apply to ordinary Federation citizens. (TOS: "Bread and Circuses"; TNG: "Angel One")



Again, the Prime Directive is Starfleet General Order 1. The Federation cannot even fully apply it to itself, let alone other nation-states.


To extend this to answer the question as asked; A Starfleet officer cannot themselves interfere in the inner workings of another society or make contact with non-warp capable races. They cannot prevent non-officers from doing so, nor can they really do anything about it when one nation-state does so against another. Also, the nation-states you specifically mention have done what you asked about.


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