Frontierism

Frontierism is an influential political ideology common to both the Outer Colonies and Inner Colonies. It argues that the frontier has a unique influence on democracy. Indeed, true democracy may be possible only on the frontier, where hardship, pragmatism, and voluntary association will quickly destroy old, dysfunctional customs from an overcrowded Earth.

Overview
There was no manifesto of Frontierism. It was not an ideology cooked up in a university or planned by a political action group. It was described by a group of academics from the universities of Circumstance, but they were in turn observing the actions of the colonists. The colonists themselves had little time for political theory, as they were too busy building habitats and mining mineral veins.

A key element of Frontierism is what its supporters call 'a healthy disrespect toward bureaucrats'. Societies on developing worlds emphasize personal responsibility and accountability. The distributed liability in bureaucratic institutions and the concentration of power in the hands of officials who are unelected and therefore unaccountable to the people they rule over is anathema to many independently-minded colonists.

History
Frontierism as an ideology was identified in the 25th century, when waves of settlers were reaching for what would become the Outer Colonies. Although it was a description of human action rather than a prescription for political action, it does draw from earlier writing. Some would go so far as to say it is a marriage of Fredrick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis with the writings of Hu Tsein in the 2130s.

The description became a political movement in the 2470s, when the UEG began to exert its will on the outer colonies. Many began to fear that the UEG would forcibly cut off any new settlements that it couldn't control from the beginning,