Planetary Unification Treaty

An agreement by all the states/nations on a planet to establish a single worldwide government. This most commonly happens on recontacted planets or other situations where a population has fallen to internecine warfare. The signing of a unification treaty is often a precondition for admission into the Stellar Compact as a full voting member. If there are deep-rooted divisions at work, such an agreement may remain elusive for decades if not longer, with the planet having the status of protectorate until then and likely being the focus of numerious peacekeeping missions to tamp down the violence. Once a treaty is in effect, it is much easier to administer common social, environmental, and economic policies.

Newly-colonized planets are set up with unified governments by default, and hence do not need a treaty. There are also a few exceptions where a planetside nation-state was incorporated into the Compact despite no unification agreement, such as to prevent further wars or because other nations were being unreasonably stubborn holdouts.