Politics of Star Wars: AotC - SPOILERS

Cafe Society
1

I just saw Episode II for the fourth time, and I’m trying to get a handle on the politics of the plot, because I think it’s more involved than I originally thought. (I don’t think this has been specifically addressed in depth in any of the threads, but I’m sorry if I’m repeating it.) Here’s my take on it.

Given the bad guys are acting as they do, the Senate had three ways they could have acted:

  1. Wait for the Separatists to attack, and then approve the use of an army. This is bad because Anakin, Amidala, and a whole lot of Jedi would have been killed.

  2. Appoint Palpatine emergency powers, just like what actually happened. This is also bad (though not as bad) because it goes against democracy. Nobody likes it.

  3. Approve the use of clones before the Separatists attack. The droid army could be defeated, the Jedi could still be alive, and Palpatine would still have limited power. This is good, but people like Amidala effectively shot it down.

So, anything wrong with this theory? Help me fix any problems with it.

2

The biggest problem is that you’re giving more thought to this subject than George Lucas did.

3

That seems a big simplistic. I admit that you could make a lot of complaints about the series, but I definitely think that Lucas put a good deal of thought into the political backstory. I don’t think that most people who watch get it even if they try.

4

The problem is that the seperatists and the Senate were both being run by the bad guys, hence an outcome favorable to the Senate and to the protagonists (Amidala, Anakin and the Jedi) was not achievable. The game was rigged.

Look at it this way: From one end, Dooku, the Sith apprentice, is working with the Trade Federation and other commercial guilds to get star systems to leave the Republic and build a huge droid army. Why? To create a threat to the Republic, per the instructions of the Sith master, Sidious.

From the other end, Palpatine is attempting to get the Senate to approve the creation of an Army of the Republic. Why? Ostensibly to “counter the increasing threat of the separatists” (a thread he and Dooku have created in the first place), but really as a means to further consolidate his power as Supreme Chancellor and, in the future, Emperor.

By simultaneously creating the threat and the means to counter it, Palpatine and Dooku (whose job security we can assume is severely limited) arrange things so as to suddenly have a military force present on thousands of worlds (which we see beginning at the end of the movie), under his direct control. Hello, Empire!

The wishes of the Senate, and the lives of our protagonists, are incidental to Palpatine. If his and Dooku’s plans to use Jango Fett and Zam Wessell to kill Amidala succeed, the Senate loses its strongest opposition voice and he pushes through the Republic Army vote. If they don’t, he goes with Plan B and gets her moved off-world so she isn’t present when the crisis comes to a head anyway, and he still gets the vote put through. Using Amidala’s proxy in the Senate, Jar Jar Binks, to boot.

The whole thing is Palpatine playing both ends against the middle, effectively taking all potential enemies out of the picture. He uses the clone army to destroy the droid armies of the commercial guilds, then installs them as an occupation army on thousands of worlds. Meanwhile, he’s now killed all but a few of the Jedi on Coruscant, diluting their power and setting the stage to wipe them out completely throughout the galaxy. He’s got the plans for the Death Star from the Geonosians, he’s got emergency powers from the Senate, he’s got a relationship with the Chosen One, and he’s got the Jedi unable to effectively use the Force.

5

Oh, no. We’re not headed for another one of those “I found a way to beat the Kobayashi maru” threads again, are we?

:wink:

6

You have to admit, Lucas’ political system is pretty bizarre.

Senators can appoint anyone they want to proxy for them with no approval process. “This is my cousin Festus. He likes to burn stuff. He’ll be doing my Senate-ing for awhile.” These proxies can propose fundamental changes to the structure of the political system simply by standing up and saying, “Hey let’s become a dictatorship and give that not-at-all-creepy guy over there complete power because there might possibly be a war, and Republics, as we all know, are completely incapable of waging war. So, who’s with me?” These proposals are approved, with no discussion or dissent, by applause.

7

Your points are well made, pldennison. But I still think that option 3 was a way to beat it—there was a way out. If the military had been established but not under control of Palpatine, rather, under control of the Senate, that would have put a huge damper on Sidious’s plans, if not foiled them completely.

According to this picture book I have, which I know is not canon, Palpatine’s term is up, but a sequence of crises has allowed him to be kept in office. All he needs is an end to the unrest to be taken out.

Dumbguy makes another good point that’s kind of puzzling me. Why is the Senate not willing to establish the military itself, but willing to let someone else do it? Maybe it is an inconsistency, and Lucas really didn’t think this out all that well. I actually think that they wanted someone else to take the heinous responsibility.

8

I don’t know that #3 would have worked, though. If the Senate had gone ahead, at some point before Obi-Wan discovered the clone army on Kamino and the conspiracy on Geonosis, and approved the creation of an Army, Palpatine might have had a plan to get another couple dozen systems to secede from the Republic. He can tell Dooku to stall the Trade Federation and the droid armies, get more systems to secede, heighten the crisis and get the powers he needs.

Not only that, but he can get the Jedi in some deep shit. He could reveal the existence of the clone army to the Senate, and tell them, “Hey, the Kaminoans say a Jedi ordered this baby ten years ago. Why do they need an army? Why didn’t they inform me, the Chancellor? Give me special powers, and I’ll take control of it and squelch the separatists.”

9

Dumbguy, Amidala didn’t appoint her cousin Festus who likes to burn things as her proxy - she appointed Jar Jar Binks, the other Senator (representing Gungan interests, I suppose) from her homeworld of Naboo and one of her political allies as her proxy. That doesn’t seem too odd…

10

I’m guessing that Jar Jar was already some sort of Gungan representative, maybe some sort of Assistant Secretary to the Senator. Deputizing him doesn’t seem that far fetched. And don’t forget, putting anything in the hands of the Senate is just like putting it in the hands of Sidious - Dooku said that most of the Senate is being controlled by him.

11

The senate is influenced by him, not controlled. Both his official power as Chancellor and his… other avenues… as Sidious give him a great deal of influence, but (until Jar-Jar’s phenomenal demonstration of Gungan mental ability) he had to keep it subtle. Think about it: Of all the senators, many of whom probably agreed with his politics on their own, the only one he could get to nominate him Emperor was Jar-Jar, for crying out loud! Surely, if he had outright control of a majority of the Senate, he wouldn’t have had to bother jumping through all the hoops, and we wouldn’t have a movie.

12

Where did it say that #3 was even an option? The impression I got was that the only way for the Republic to have an army – let alone use the clone army – was through the “emergency powers” decision.

Basically, the “emergency powers” gave Palpatine just that: powers, for as long as he wanted to hold them. Among these powers was the power to create and use an army. Without that decision, there could be no army, since legislation prohibited having more than a Jedi police force.

13

In the last movie, Jar Jar was banished by the Gungans because he was considered a danger to society. Now he’s their Senator. Yes, much more plausible.

14

Before the last movie, Jar Jar was banished. Then he was welcomed back, and made a general of their army. I’d hardly consider him a pariah by the end of Episode I.

15

I think you’ve got me on this one Munch. I was going to suggest that no reasonable society would take some talent-less ninny who can barely express a coherent thought and put him in a position of great power.

Then I thought about what I was saying.