/lit/ - Literature

>Set approximately 700 years from the present day, the human society in Starship Troopers is ruled by the Terran Federation, a form of world government dominated by a military elite. The rights of a full citizen, to vote and hold public office, are not universally guaranteed, but must be earned through Federal Service. Those who do not perform this service, which usually takes the form of military service, retain the rights of free speech and assembly, but cannot vote or hold public office. People of either sex above the age of 18 are permitted to enlist. Those who leave before completing their service do not receive the vote. Important government jobs are reserved for federal service veterans. This structure arose ad hoc after the collapse of the "20th century Western democracies", driven in part by an inability to control crime and juvenile delinquency, particularly in North America, and a war between an alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia against the "Chinese Hegemony".

>Starship Troopers is narrated by the main protagonist Juan "Johnny" Rico, a member of the "Mobile Infantry". Rico's ancestry is depicted to be a thing of no consequence; the society he lives in appears to have abandoned racial and gender-based prejudice. The story is based on the social Darwinist idea of society as a struggle for survival based on military strength. It suggests that some conflicts must be resolved by force: one of the lessons Rico is repeatedly taught is that violence can be an effective method of settling conflict. Heinlein suggests that without territorial expansion involving violent conquest of other races, humans would be destroyed.

>Starship Troopers also critiques US society of the 1950s, suggesting that it had led young people to be spoiled and undisciplined. These beliefs are expressed through the classroom lectures of Dubois, Rico's teacher for History and Moral Philosophy. Dubois praises flogging and other types of corporal punishment as a means of addressing juvenile crimes. The story is strongly in favor of corporal punishment and capital punishment, as a means of correcting juvenile delinquents.

>Dubois also ridicules the idea of inalienable rights, such as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", arguing that people only have the rights that they are willing to fight and die for to protect.

>Despite the alliance between the US and Russia, this war has been described as demonstrating Heinlein's anti-communist beliefs, which saw "swarming hordes" of Chinese as a bigger threat. The society within the book has frequently been described as fascist. Authors and commentators have stated that the manner in which the extraterrestrial beings are portrayed in Starship Troopers has racist aspects, arguing that the nicknames "Bugs" and "Skinnies" carry racial overtones. John Brunner compared them to calling Koreans "gooks".