Eastern Coalition
Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek content.
The Eastern Coalition, also known as the ECON, was a alliance of Asian states on Earth in the early 21st century. In 2031, the Eastern Coalition was amongst those groups which pooled its resources to help divert the orbits of a number of asteroids threatening to impact with the planet, threatening all life in Earth. (TLE novel: The Sundered)
The Eastern Coalition was a major rival to the United States and the European Union. In the 2030s and 2040s, relations between the rivals continued to degenerate; this led to the outbreak of World War III on 1 May 2053. ((TLE novel: The Sundered); TNG movie: Star Trek: First Contact) The Eastern Coalition states were amongst those hardest hit; cities such as Karachi and New Delhi were damaged when nuclear weapons detonated over them. (TLE novel: The Sundered) As late as 2079, many Asian societies were still mired in lawlessness and chaos as a result of the Post-Atomic Horror. (TNG episodes: "Encounter at Farpoint", "All Good Things...")
Eastern Coalition members included India and Pakistan. (TLE novel: The Sundered)
- The exact nature and composition of the Eastern Coalition remains unknown. The unity of action and identity associated with the Eastern Coalition in Star Trek: First Contact implies that the Coalition possessed the power of a de jure state rather than a mere alliance; alliances do sometimes supplant the power of their member states' governments. Exactly what sequence of events could lead traditional rivals India and Pakistan to assume membership in a common organization is unknown, though there remains the possibility of conquest by the nearby People's Republic of China. Chinese domination of the Eastern Coalition seems likely, given the real-life rise in global power of the PRC.
- The organization which has real-world significance to the Eastern Coalition is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization whose members include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Mongolia, and Afghanistan.
- In the audio commentary for the DVD version of Star Trek: First Contact, Brannon Braga reveals that all references to the ECON were originally supposed to be China, but the ECON was invented for the film at a later time.
[edit] Connections
- Eastern Coalition article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
