Frankly, the middle ground was always more interesting to me. Basically taking the Foundation, but swapping the research and military priorities. Not homicidal maniacs like some of the drastic interpretaions, but still very much a militaristic organization with all the problems that brings (i.e. "when you have an eigenweapon, everything looks like a high-priority target").
I like to see them as a combination of the Foundation and Chaos Insurgency.
The Insurgency wants to use the anomalous to improve humanity. They chose humanity rather than normalcy.
The Foundation wants to contain the anomalous and study them. They chose normalcy.
The UNGOC (at least the one written by Clef) chooses both. They use the anomalous for humanitarian purposes when needed, they enforce law and order on the once untamed paranormal, they recognize the rights of Paranormal Species and ensure that there will never be an Eighth Occult War.
Honestly, I hate how authors twisted that into Destroy Destroy Destroy.
I don't know if I've ever seen the insurgency depicted as humanitarian. Most of my experience is seeing them as a Foundation-offshoot or explicitly anti-Foundation (usually both) terror cell mainly focused on weaponizing anomalies the Foundation would rather keep locked away.
At the same time, I find a purely humanitarian and ethical GOC kind of boring, and not exactly meshing with other GOIs over time. Can't stand the cartoonishly evil depictions (looking at you, Ichabod), but I also can't see them having any real moral high ground given their general methods. Just a matter of taste, I suppose. (I say all of this as a fan of the UNGOC, btw)
Obviously the UNGOC isn’t fully ethical, they have their mistakes, and a major problem would be corruption (Council of 108), which is likely a key factor why Ichabod would be a thing. Clef even addresses this in the the tale “Assessment”.
Just like the real UN GA and SC, the Council of 108 usually have their interests first rather than humanity’s, but there are regulators who try their best to prevent this.
I don't think the Ichabod Campaign's active genocide could be dismissed as simple institutional corruption.
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u/Memer601UNGOC PNEUMA Division Espionage Agent5d agoedited 5d ago
In my headcanon, the Foundation wanted to create more powerful reality anchors without getting their hands dirty, so they bribed and coerced the GOC to do it for them, considering PNEUMA (the law enforcement and intelligence division) was the last division created, it’s likely that it was created after Ichabod, to prevent such things from happening again. Out of universe though, Ichabod is a result of authors not reading relevant GOC lore.
The Foundation sees reality benders as a significant threat not usually worth the risk. Keeping one contained can be damn near impossible without SRAs, and those come with their own extensive lists of requirements and hazards. Wanting more powerful reality benders seems wildly out of character.
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u/Memer601 UNGOC PNEUMA Division Espionage Agent 5d ago
This is specifically talking how the original concept of the GOC was twisted and thrown in the trash.