David Johnson wrote:

> My point was merely that between "Graveyard of Dreams" and _Junkyard
> Planet_, Beam seems to have changed his mind -- or at least Conn's
> mind -- about the Federation's purpose in fighting the War. It wasn't
> concerned about succession for "economic" reasons -- which might make
> it wary of subsequent efforts toward economic autonomy on Poictesme --
> but rather because it believed something other than a "central state"
> was a security problem.

There's also an individual fatalism in the book. The military asked
Merlin about the future of the Federation, and the answer did not lead
to any military command or planetary government seeking to create
something like Asimov's Foundation.