The PACT: A Tangled Weave
Nomenclature note:
In everyday vernacular, the Pacific Arm Colonization Treaty (PACT) is used interchangeably for both the set of treaties that define various rights and responsibilities of the signatories and the intergovernmental bodies that make it up. For simplicity, 'The PACT' will be used for general
Overview
The PACT is an economic, political and military alliance centered around the Pacific Ocean, a geographic position that has earned it the nickname the 'Ring of Fire'. By tallied both GDP and military spending it is the most powerful discrete entity in the Human-explored galaxy; additionally its member-states lay claim to the largest count of stellar syatems. However, unlike the European Union which has consolidated into a supranational union, the PACT remains a collection of individual states. In structure and function it more closely resembles NATO or NAFTA.
Notable member-states of the PACT include the following:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Columbia
- Mexico
- The United States of America
- Canada
- Japan
- Korea
- The Phillipines
- Vietnam
- Indonesia
- Australia
As can be seen from this abbreviated list, the PACT is also exceptionally diverse, with many different cultures clustered under its umbrella. This general lack of commonality between member-states has led it to be seen as a purely political organization. As the name (Pacific Arm) also implies it was originally formed to deal with extrasolar affairs, but political drift over the intervening century was inescapable.
The PACT Today
Even the most cursory overview of the PACT will make it clear that there are multiple groups within the larger framework, most notably ASEAN and UNASUL (Union of South American Nations), as well as the techno-economic behemoths of the United States and Japan. All of these have their own interests and while it would be quite incorrect to qualify the PACT as dysfunctional, it is no secret that in all but the most extreme situations the various PACT members act in their own interests.
It has been stated earlier than the PACT numbers the largest sum of stellar systems of any polity; this is true, but this is split between a large number of national actors. The astrogeographic realities also conflict with terrestrial geography, as borders both intra-PACT and interstellar with the EU, China and ZOCU can be radically different from those on Earth, where the bulk of the PACT's population still resides.
PACT Politics
Unsurprisingly it is effectively impossible to define the PACT's political stance; indeed on most topics it is an apolitical entity. Generally when 'The PACT' takes a position on an issue, it is at the behest of a member-state that has gotten sufficient backing from others to issue a joint statement. That said, a few policies are generally accepted PACTwide.
The Treaty of Sirius normalized diplomatic relations between all signatories but with the war only six years in the past, tensions generally remain high. Sirius states warships are generally barred from visiting major worlds and as a consequence on the rare occasion that a Sirius state warship performs an 'interstellar' patrol, they only perform port visits at catapult stations (which are designated as international sites) or unincorporated/independent worlds. ZOCU and affiliated states have become the PACT's #1 strategic concern.
Trade links with the EU are robust, though dwarfed by trade running up and down the arm, and generally the PACT and the EU are reliable partners. Few high-speed routes exist to the Sino-Russian arm and most of that trade occurs via a dogleg through Sol.
PACT Military
The PACT does have a unified command structure, however, it is generally treated as 'advisory' and tasked almost exclusively with apolitical threats - functionally, feral drones and posthuman monitoring. In practice the various PACT member-states operate their own militaries; the largest of these, the United States Military is the third-largest military in the Sphere.
The various nations of the PACT operate under a number of different doctrines, though as the top three powers of Brazil, Japan and the United States all operate carrier-centric star fleets, the PACT is generally treated as a 'carrier power'. Most of the weapons used are of (or based upon) American or Japanese design and overall the PACT maintains a high level of technical interoperability.