Robert Heinlein was one of the classic twentieth century writers of science fiction, and along with Philip K Dick perhaps one of the more controversial. In a forty year career he himself ran much of the gamut of political thinking, from left-leaning liberal to apparent right-wing autocrat, although the truth was more subtle in reality.
Starship Troopers is set about five thousand years in the future, in an age where interstellar travel is nothing unusual thanks to the Cherenkov drive (forty-six light years being attainable in about six weeks) and the human race, together with allies, belongs to the Terran Federation. The book starts with the first-person protagonist, Juan "Johnny" Rico, taking part in an attack on an alien city belonging to a hostile race, the "Skinnies". The object of the raid is not to annihilate the enemy but to inflict damage on their infrastructure.
We then go back to the start of Johnny's career in the Mobile Infantry, as he graduates from school. His parents have promised him a holiday on Mars, but his friend Carl and the girl whom he rather fancies, Carmen, have both decided to enlist. In the Terran Federation, the franchise is extended only to those who have a record of service (not necessarily in armed combat units, but certainly in a disciplined environment), but at this time Johnny is apparently swayed more by Carmen's example than political ideas. However, while Carl goes off to a research assignment and Carmen to starship training, Johnny's lack of specialisations point him towards the Mobile Infantry, the space equivalent of Marines in both their ability to operate in different environments and their gruelling training.
The Terran Federation has during this time been inching towards war with "the Bugs", an insectoid race from the planet Klendathu whose society is a hive-caste system and who are formidable opponents, having access to advanced technology despite their largely underground existence. After a disastrous start to the campaign in which Rico's unit along with many others is decimated, the Federation fights back. Made up to sergeant, Rico is then urged by an older career NCO to consider officer training, and puts himself forward. Having graduated from this he must then take part in an important battle on one of the Bug-controlled planets in which the Terran forces attempt to capture living examples of the so-called "Brain Bugs", the controlling intelligences of the hive, as well as a Queen if possible.
Since Rico's training includes both flogging and the hanging of a man (albeit for the offence of infanticide), and the vote is restricted to service veterans, one might conclude from Starship Troopers that Heinlein favoured dictatorship and the lash. In fact the political ideas of the book are more subtle and bear examination, although Major Malloy's discourse on "juvenile delinquents" in the twentieth century will probably bring a wistful smile to many who think law and order is not tough enough. The political ideas are voiced mainly by Rico's history teacher, ex-MI Colonel Dubois, in flashbacks to school lessons. In the Terran Federation, only electoral franchise is limited to service veterans: the assumption seems to be that other democratic rights such as free speech or right of assembly are universally guaranteed. The complaint about twentieth-century democracy in the book is that in those societies, people assumed they could have anything they voted for. In Heinlein's future history (written in 1959), the democracies ultimately collapse and the next stage of world history is dominated by conflict between the Russian-Anglo-American Alliance and the Chinese Hegemony, glimpses of a world that are tantalising and which one wishes Heinlein might have expounded on more, in later stories if not this one. As for other thinkers, Marx is given some grudging credit, but Plato's Republic is given short shrift. In this reviewer's eyes, perhaps the most telling charge is that of utopianism, ie that the political setup in Heinlein's novel presents an ideal society. While the writer never claims it to be ideal, it seems that the only problems presented in the novel are the external ones, ie war against the Bugs and the Skinnies. From a Christian viewpoint, the doctrine of man's sinfulness would make it difficult to envisage any sort of elite, even men with a history of service and sacrifice, running society without any problems. One is also reminded of Winston Churchill's quip about democracy being the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
The Paul Verhoeven film of the book should be mentioned. Although the adaptation was done fairly well and captured the essence of the novel (or at least its narrative), two observations should be made. Firstly, the armoured suits of the Mobile Infantry are missing, so what the MI become in the film is essentially light infantry, like twentieth-century marines, albeit with the ability to be dropped into battle by spacecraft. The units are also mixed, unlike Heinlein's in which Rico often thought about women. Secondly, the uniforms and certain other aspects of Terran society portrayed in the film gave it a quasi-fascistic, if not neo-Nazi, air. While Heinlein's society was not liberal democracy as we might understand it, nor did it have the somewhat sinister appearance of Verhoeven's.
Wikipedia article on Starship Troopers, with a good discussion of the philosophical arguments and controversies arising from it
Wikipedia article on Heinlein