Democracy

A system of social organization that involved free political participation in a state's decision-making processes was known as democracy. Throughout galactic history, there was an alternating pattern of democracies and dictatorships. The Galactic Republic was established around 1032 BBY after the fall of the Sith Empire. The Republic, a democratic alliance encompassing numerous worlds across much of the galaxy, upheld a thousand years of democracy. This was symbolized and maintained by the Galactic Senate. The Senate, a representative democratic body, consisted of senators and representatives from their respective homeworlds and sectors. These elected officials collaborated extensively through discussions and debates to serve the best interests of the trillions of beings within the Republic, enacting legislation to address the Republic's challenges. Each senator bore the dual responsibility of representing their constituents and the government as a whole, requiring politicians to reconcile often conflicting duties, especially during times of war.

The Senate convened in the Federal District's Senate Rotunda on the Republic capital planet Coruscant. It possessed the power to enact laws, establish commissions of inquiry, participate in committees, and elect the Republic Supreme Chancellor to lead the Republic government. The Office of the Chancellor had limited unilateral executive powers over the Senate, but the system was subject to bureaucratic procedures that could be influenced by special-interest lobbies. Also located within the Federal District were the Galactic Courts of Justice, the Senate Office Building, and the Jedi Temple. The Republic's one thousand years of democracy coincided with one thousand years of peace, owing to political stability and the effectiveness of the Jedi Order.

The Jedi provided support to the Republic. They possessed strong connections with the Force and were dedicated to light and life, ensuring peace and justice throughout the galaxy. At times, the Senate tasked them with acting as negotiators on its behalf. Jedi were obligated to uphold the Jedi Code and safeguard all people in the galaxy. The Republic did not maintain a standing military until its final years. However, treaties permitted some member worlds to contribute their local military resources to a comprehensive Republic Defense Coalition during specific emergencies, such as the Nihil conflict. The Jedi High Council made critical decisions for Jedi Order members to adhere to, operating based on consensus among its twelve members. The council included respected Grand Masters. One of them, Ry Ki-Sakka, believed that after a member died and passed into the Force, the council did not fill their seat but instead expanded by inviting new Jedi.

Leading up to the Separatist Crisis, the Senate's Core Faction advocated for greater centralization of power. This included funding expansion programs to outlying star systems and organizing them according to the model of the Core Worlds. The Rim Faction opposed them, favoring greater rights for individual star systems in the Outer Rim, such as Ryloth. The Core Faction often received support from the Militarists, who desired a centralized Republic military to combat criminal gangs instead of relying on a patchwork of planetary defense forces and the Judicial Department. The Judicial Department included the Sector Rangers, who were supported by the Jedi.

Sheev Palpatine exploited the Republic's increasing investment in warfare and the Supreme Chancellor's executive powers to establish a Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars and become Galactic Emperor. Consequently, Mon Mothma established the Chancellor of the New Republic as a position with limited authority, refusing to allow the office to retain the emergency powers granted in the old charter of Chancellor. As a result, the new democratic state lacked an executive, despite an attempt by Centrist faction senators to create a new position called First Senator that would have executive power over economic and military affairs. The Populists opposed them, favoring the sovereignty of individual member states and led by Leia Organa. Organa believed that the fledgling democracy was left vulnerable to various remnants of the Galactic Empire due to its own demilitarization. She left the New Republic Senate to form the Resistance, an armed movement that pledged to protect the freedom of people throughout the galaxy.

The Republic's democracy moderated the galactic economy through a combination of trade taxation and private corporations. The Republic Treasury was responsible for printing Republic credits, while the Senate's Finance Committee oversaw annual budgets, revenue generation, government grants, and emergency relief fund appropriations. While interplanetary cooperation and trade created the prosperity of the High Republic Era, the age of prosperity and hope was disrupted by the Nihil conflict.

Economics involved the study of resource allocation, people, and their choices. Some economic policies promoted rapid, short-term growth at the expense of beings, while others allowed for incremental and constructive long-term economic growth. Although some people believed that economics had no morality and that free markets would correct themselves, some economists resolved moral dilemmas through the guidance of the Force. Listening to the Force could uncover deeper truths even when economics was popularly seen as patterns of doom and gloom; supply and demand. Some Jedi embraced monastic lives of austerity, and the only personal possession allowed within the Jedi Order's membership was the lightsaber.

Having long abandoned the aurodium standard, the Republic partnered with the InterGalactic Banking Clan (IGBC) and Bank of the Core to maintain its credit reserves and ensure the stability of the Republic's currency. The Republic also had a tax collection agency, cut other areas of public spending, and issued war bonds to fund militarization during the Clone Wars. As one of the most powerful corporations in the Outer Rim, the IGBC issued loans to the Republic at interest rates of their own discretion.

In the Republic's later years, peace fostered comfort, which in turn begot complacency and encouraged corruption. Several commercial corporation giants, such as the IGBC, the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guild, and the Corporate Alliance, gained their own seats in the Senate. They exploited disagreements among politicians to stall solutions and loopholes in the bureaucracy in pursuit of profit at the expense of representative democracy, corrupting more senators on their payroll.

Although the corporations were in turn restricted by the levying of taxes, they decided to lead the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a secessionist faction motivated by the frustration of many senators of Outer Rim star systems with what they perceived as an ineffectual Republic that favored the Core Worlds elite while being burdened with heavy taxation. Count Dooku of Serenno, a former Jedi Master, had a reputation as a political idealist frustrated with the Republic's inefficiency. As the leader of the Separatist Alliance, he promised freedom and prosperity. While the Separatist Parliament was a representative democratic legislature similar to the Galactic Senate, it lacked the Republic's layers of bureaucracy, existing treaties, and interference from corporations.

However, the Confederacy was a democracy in name only. Dooku's secret Executive Separatist Council, consisting mainly of corporations such as the Trade Federation, Commerce Guild, Corporate Alliance, InterGalactic Banking Clan, Techno Union, and the Retail Caucus that funded the war against the Republic, largely sidelined the Parliament. When the Confederacy was defeated, the trade corporations were absorbed by the Galactic Empire dictatorship.

The Galactic Republic, along with planetary representative democracies like Devaron, valued the rule of law. Similarly, the Alliance to Restore the Republic emphasized its belief that galactic governance required just laws fairly implemented with the "consent of the governed." While the Rebellion and the New Republic were sometimes denounced as forces of "anarchy," the First Order claimed to reclaim "stability" and "progress" granted by Imperial "civilization" and "rule of law." However, without democracy, the Imperial and First Order regimes ruled by decree. They arbitrarily created oppressive laws and committed acts of terror that could not be challenged in peace, militarily quashing disagreement rather than protecting their citizens. Soldiers' obedience to superior orders ensured the birth of the Empire from a corrupted Republic. Whereas the plague of corruption and ineffectual governance undermined the state's legal systems, the subsequent dictatorships were ultimately toppled by popular defiance.

Various courts and agencies of the Judicial Department enforced Republic laws. The Old Republic Judicial Forces worked alongside Jedi to dismantle the Zygerrian slave trade, as slavery was outlawed in the Republic. However, many outlying star systems not part of the Republic continued to experience slavery, including the planet Tatooine in Hutt Space.

In the Republic's final years, its courts were overwhelmed, and the Jedi's ability to predict the future diminished. This was encapsulated by their involvement as military leaders rather than their traditional role as peacekeepers in the Clone Wars. The slave trade on Zygerria revived under Separatist influence during the war. The Republic Senate's Ethics Committee had the power to investigate senators and government officials, including ordering witnesses for court hearings. The Judiciary Committee's Internal Activities Committee could recommend criminal charges on relevant individuals.

The Republic state represented a continuation of the "Old Republic," initially founded by twenty-two Core Worlds around 25,000 BBY. Coruscant served as the Republic's political capital, attracting migrants from thousands of other worlds, including both Republic member worlds and foreign allies. Although Troithe in the Deep Core rivalled Coruscant as the cosmopolitan jewel of the Republic with its aristo-mercantile families, Coruscant's growing workforce bolstered its industrial capacity and outpaced production on Troithe. The Works of Coruscant thrived and were later vacated as the costs of manufacturing in the ecumenopolis rose.

Thisspias in the Expansion Region had a constitutional monarchy culturally led by the hereditary Blood Monarchy but otherwise governed by a parliament. The Blood Monarch successfully convinced the world's fighters to serve in the Republic's military during its initial establishment. This secured her reign and expanded Thisspias' economy while her people defended galactic democracy despite their generally conservative and pro-independence stance. Thisspias was involved in many Republic conflicts during the Great Manifest Period and had great influence in the Galactic Senate, connecting the Core Worlds and the Outer Rim.

The Jedi Order emerged as the Republic's protectors. However, the Force users suffered a schism during the Hundred-Year Darkness around 5000 BBY. The fallen Jedi turned against their compatriots and became tyrants known as Dark Lords of the Sith, having been corrupted by the dark side of the Force. This fueled desires to control others through the manipulation of fears and restrictive laws of punishment rather than the Jedi way of serving political communities with compassion. The Sith Wars plagued the Old Republic. According to the Qel-Droma Epics, Empress Teta worked together with the Jedi to foil Dark Lord Naga Sadow's Great Hyperspace War. Later, however, the Krath took control of the Empress Teta system in the Deep Core and were led by fallen Jedi who commanded Mandalorian crusaders. A Sith Emperor also led the Sith, devastating entire worlds, including Coruscant. Jedi Knights ostensibly eliminated the Sith Order at the end of the Jedi-Sith War on Ruusan. The Galactic Republic was democratically founded around 1032 BBY following the Sith Empire's collapse. However, Darth Bane, the sole Sith survivor, conjured a Grand Plan whereby the Sith would corrupt the Republic from within and take revenge against the Jedi.

Tarsus Valorum served as the first Supreme Chancellor of the modern Republic state, which disbanded its military in favor of the Jedi Knights, who were no longer burdened by an existential threat such as the Sith. The Republic attempted to suppress the history of the Sith's oppression and their obsession with genetic sciences and immortality. The quartet of controversial philosophers known as the Four Sages of Dwartii influenced the Galactic Constitution. While the constitution included a declaration that all sentient beings were equal and outlawed slavery, droid rights remained a contentious topic.

The Republic stood as the dominant galactic-scale state, encompassing sovereign signatories of star systems across the Core Worlds, Colonies, Inner Rim Territories, Expansion Region, and Mid Rim Territories. Republic explorers extended hyperspace routes across the Outer Rim Territories, leaving the largely uncharted Unknown Regions and the unpredictable Wild Space beyond the reach of authorities. Cooperation among much of the galaxy's star systems ensured the Republic prospered during the golden age of the High Republic, spanning from approximately 500 BBY to 100 BBY.

In the year 382 BBY, the Galactic Republic was jointly governed by Co-Chancellors Kyong Greylark and Orlen Mollo. Their focus was on fostering a more just and interconnected union during the period known as the Great Hyperspace Rush. Expeditions, spearheaded by Republic Pathfinders and Jedi Knights, ventured deeper into the Outer Rim Territories. Mollo, a Quarren with firsthand experience of the conflicts on Mon Cala—the shared planet of the Quarren and Mon Calamari races—collaborated effectively with Greylark until she resigned following the arrest of her son. Greylark primarily managed Senate affairs on Coruscant, while Mollo undertook extensive travels. Though he advocated for minimal Republic interference in the affairs of non-member planets, he and Jedi negotiators intervened, urging a cessation of hostilities in the Eiram and E'ronoh War.

Meanwhile, Jedi Masters Porter Engle and Barash Silvain, who were raised as siblings, mediated between the Bethune army and the besieged city of Firevale on the planet Gansevor. Their efforts facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid to Firevale and established a temporary truce. Silvain readily accepted Princess Sicatra of Bethune's claim that the Bethunians intended to kill her due to her pregnancy with Prince Colden of Firevale. This was fueled by Silvain's own deep-seated childhood desire for family. She entrusted Engle with the task of demanding the army's withdrawal. However, the army had formed an alliance with General Abediah Viess' mercenary army, which insisted on targeting Firevale's city center, leading Engle to confront Viess in battle. Princess Sicatra then revealed that the siege was a calculated ploy to seize the Firevale throne, and she commanded the Bethunians to turn against Viess' army. Although the mercenaries retreated, Silvain felt responsible for her error in judgment and the resulting bloodshed, vowing to self-imposed exile to reconnect with the Force.

Around this time, the Republic clashed with the Togruta people, a sovereign and independent civilization residing on the Expansion Region planet of Shili. At some point on the Outer Rim world of Ryloth, the Clan Assembly ratified the articles of membership, formally integrating the Twi'lek homeworld and its associated colonies into the Republic. However, Aaloth, one of these colonies, was devastated by famines, triggering a coup d'état. This coup, orchestrated by the Zygerrian Alliance, resulted in the execution of members of Aaloth's ruling family and the forced enslavement of its sole survivor, Lourna Dee, in a Zygerrian camp until her liberation by the Jedi around 255 BBY.

Following her election to the position of Chancellor around 234 BBY, Lina Soh initiated the Great Works initiative. This aimed to bolster the Republic's outreach programs and extend the influence of the democratic union into the Outer Rim. Key projects included brokering a peace treaty between the Quarren and Mon Calamari, the renewal of Kwenn's famed Gem Cities, and the development of technological advancements, such as bacta cultivation techniques, an enhanced network of communications relays, and the construction of Starlight Beacon as both a symbol of the Republic and a hub for improved connectivity in the Galactic Frontier. Chancellor Soh popularized the phrase "we are all the Republic" to underscore the value of its democratic principles, while Jedi such as Avar Kriss championed the motto "for light and life" to emphasize the Jedi's dedication to all beings throughout the galaxy.

When the anarchistic Nihil marauders triggered the Great Hyperspace Disaster and subsequent Emergences in 232 BBY, the Chancellor, through the Republic Transport Bureau under Secretary of Transportation Jeffo Lorillia, temporarily suspended hyperspace travel in the Outer Rim to ensure the safety of space travelers. Senator Izzet Noor of Serenno publicly protested this decision, representing the interests of the majority of the Outer Rim, although Noor's aide was secretly a Nihil operative. Chancellor Soh also requested the Jedi Order's assistance in collaborating with the Republic Defense Coalition to combat the Nihil threat. The Jedi High Council debated and voted on this proposal, with six members voting in favor and five against. Ephru Shinn argued against Jedi involvement in military affairs based on the principle of maintaining peace, while Yarael Poof countered that the Jedi were obligated to intervene to uphold justice.

Senator Tia Toon of the Sullust system expressed dissatisfaction with the Republic's reliance on the Jedi and voiced concerns about the limitations of the Republic Defense Coalition. He had been advocating for a Defense Force Program to enhance the Republic's military capabilities. While Toon did not perceive the economic dominance of the SoroSuub Corporation in his star system as a conflict of interest, his costly proposals had repeatedly failed to pass in the Senate and were at odds with Chancellor Soh's pacifist principles. Around the same time, Republic authorities dismantled the Byne Guild after uncovering the shipping company's exploitation of employees through indentured servitude, a legal practice that the Hutt Clan exploited to build their industries.

In 231 BBY, the Chancellor organized the Valo Republic Fair to celebrate the values of democracy, progress, and unity. Rhil Dairo, a journalist, was granted extensive access to the Chancellor's work in coordinating the event, as Lina Soh believed in the importance of a free and transparent press. The Republic Fair itself was disrupted by a devastating Nihil attack, but the Jedi and Republic forces successfully protected many of the dignitaries and citizens of Valo, including the Chancellor herself. While Soh recovered from her injuries, Vice Chancellor Larep Reza served as acting chancellor. The Jedi's bravery convinced the fair's guest of honor, Regasa Elarec Yovet of the Togruta people, whose government harbored reservations about the Republic, to advocate for an alliance between the two entities.

In 230 BBY, the Nihil infiltrated the government of Corellia, a Core World characterized by strong isolationist sentiments encapsulated in the slogan "Corellia for Corellians." With the assistance of the Jedi, Alys Ongwa and her diplomat security crew rallied fellow Corellians to resist the brutality of the Nihil regime. Despite failing to seize additional starships from the Corellian shipyards, Nihil militants destroyed Starlight Beacon with the aid of their Nameless creatures, which exploited the Jedi's connection to the Force.

The Nihil also forcibly claimed a portion of the frontier, establishing their Occlusion Zone. In response, the Jedi High Council informed the Senate that they were implementing the Guardian Protocols, a set of policies restricting the Jedi Order's activities, alongside the council's directive for all Jedi to reconvene on Coruscant to assess the Nihil threat. The Chancellor pledged not to abandon the trapped worlds, and some Jedi were dispatched alongside Republic forces to patrol the seemingly impenetrable Stormwall border of the Occlusion Zone and attempt to breach it. In the following year, Lina Soh faced growing pressure from senators advocating for an agreement with the Nihil to acknowledge their legitimacy and reopen trade routes. Nevertheless, she maintained the Senate's support, emphasizing compassion and collaboration as fundamental values of their democracy, extending even to those beyond the state's borders who carried the Republic "in their hearts."

After the anniversary of the fall of Starlight, and lacking a means to penetrate the Occlusion Zone, Jedi Master Elzar Mann petitioned Grand Master Ry Ki-Sakka to authorize an assault on the Stormwall. However, the Grand Master expressed concern about prioritizing the Nihil conflict over the needs of the rest of the galaxy, where most citizens continued their lives as usual and required governance and protection from everyday issues such as disputes, trade negotiations, and migrations. Ghirra Starros, the Nihil Minister of Information and former Republic senator, sought to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic. She was received as a guest by Chancellor Soh and Master Elzar Mann, but they concluded that the Senate and the Jedi would be divided on the issue of legitimizing the Nihil and refused to signal that the Republic would capitulate to them.

Initially, the Jedi Council declined to collaborate with Republic forces in attempting to breach the Stormwall. However, when Master Mann relayed a Republic report suggesting that a breach had been identified, the council agreed to assist Republic forces in their assault. When the assault failed, the Nihil expanded the Stormwall's reach, claiming additional sectors of Republic Outer Rim space, extending as far as the Seswenna sector. Although many Coruscant citizens continued with their daily lives, unaware of the crisis in the frontier and the resulting influx of refugees, the Chancellor and the Jedi High Council remained committed to supporting the outlying systems and strengthened their collaboration, with Master Mann serving as a liaison, representing the Jedi Council.

Despite the crisis, Chancellor Soh retained the confidence of senior senators from diverse worlds, including Senator Toon. Grand Master Yoda suggested that the Nihil had overextended themselves and would face rebellions from the billions of additional people trapped within their territory. He assured the Chancellor that the council was fully committed to assisting the Republic Defense Coalition in breaching the Stormwall and learning more about the terrifying Nameless creatures. Indeed, Jedi Masters Avar Kriss and Porter Engle devised a method for exiting and entering the Occlusion Zone, with Kriss recording a message of hope that was broadcasted by resistance organizers within Nihil space.

Ghirra Starros contacted the Chancellor again. While Soh was open to the possibility of the Republic coexisting with another nation, she believed that the Nihil had demonstrated their inability to do so and refused to recognize their sovereignty. The Chancellor cited Marchion Ro's, the "Eye of the Nihil," history of violent atrocities and his hostile, expansionist agenda that trapped people within the Stormwall's borders against their will. When the Jedi Council invited Elzar Mann to join its ranks, Master Kriss, his lover, encouraged him, believing that his strong voice would prevent the council from becoming stagnant.

Master Kriss believed that love was limitless, in contrast to attachment and possessiveness, which had long been prohibited within the Jedi Order due to their dangerous potential to lead to the dark side. She believed that the Jedi's love for people inspired them to find hope and fight for freedom, even beyond the Republic and in times of despair. Master Mann later discussed love with Grand Master Yoda, questioning whether it was possible to be free of attachment while loving another individual, a place, or even the entire Republic. Mann realized that his parents must have let him go to be trained as a Jedi through their love; that despite Chancellor Soh's desperate desire for her son to safely return from Nihil space, she was unwilling to compromise the billions of lives for which she was responsible to make her demand; the importance of choosing how to live and serve in every moment.

Within the Occlusion Zone, the Nihil invaded the planet Eriadu and laid siege to Bri-Phrang City, where Jedi and the Republic Defense Coalition remained. The Nihil sought to secure the support of Eriadu's influential Tarkin family and combine their forces to defeat the Jedi. While the Eriadu High Council debated and prepared to vote on whether to support the Nihil, Lula Talisola and Zeen Mrala's ally Sevran Tarkin exposed her uncle, who was inclined to welcome the Nihil, for dishonoring their family in the past. As the family continued their deliberations, the Nihil traveled to Valo, which they had previously occupied, to recruit additional fighters. The visiting Nihil were unaware that the Jedi had already liberated the world, which remained within the Occlusion Zone but served as the clandestine source of a pro-freedom and pro-Republic broadcast by the Jedi Initiate Gavi Takitaken.

The Nihil attempted to re-conquer Lonisa City with lethal force, with some residents fighting back and others, wary of another war, were either subdued or tried fleeing from the violence. The Jedi Padawan Ram Jomaram, who had initially established Valo's broadcast studio to spread hope and remind himself of freedom in the smallest moments, returned to his home city as Gavi Takitaken was forced to broadcast a plea to surrender. Each member of Jomaram's crew played their part as the Jedi used the broadcast to call on each person to "never shut up" and be a "light in the dark," banding together to transform from "a scattered constellation" to "the dawn," fighting against the occupation until every person, every world, and the entire galaxy was free. The people of Lonisa City indeed rose up and deposed the Nihil, who regathered on Eriadu to stomp out the resistance there. While the Nihil ignored their remaining Eriaduan collaborators' refusal to bombard Bri-Phrang City, a sweeping coalition of Jedi, pirates, and Eriaduans crossed the bay to Eriadu City under the leadership of Farzala Tarabal. Despite haunting visions of destruction throughout the war, Tarabal recalled his Jedi Master's teachings to rise up together with the tide of history, fighting for the freedom of Eriaduans.

In 200 BBY, the Aakaash system was under the independent control of the Land & Sky Corporation, a local human-centric entity. It was technologically sophisticated and highly industrialized, leading to the destruction of the natural ecosystems of the planet Wind and widespread economic hardship for its population. The mega-corporation secretly and systematically detained members of the native dragon-like minority population, the Loongren, and harvested their blood, purportedly to achieve immortality. Despite the efforts of magnate Nan Holi to promote the star system's integration into the Galactic Republic, he faced opposition from isolationist factions within the corporation, which governed through draconian laws that defied the democratic Republic's rule of law. The Jedi Mostima and Sean were sent to the system to investigate Nan's murder but were forcibly separated by criminal gangs that worked with the authorities.

While seeking refuge with the Silver Knights in the wastelands of Wind, Sean discovered that their leader, Li Yu, had organized an elite mercenary group within the Knights—the red apricot squad—along with a community support network for the people in the wastelands. This allowed them to live free from the ruling corporation and its enforcers, albeit at the cost of employing cynical and often aggressive tactics against other criminals. Sean later learned that state-owned companies had been mistreating their employees, fostering corruption, and enslaving the Loongren. To suppress dissent, the mega-corporation used propaganda in the news to brainwash the rest of the population, politically strengthening the government while implying that foreign powers were responsible for internal unrest. He resolved to expose the ruling corporation's corruption, which continually denied citizens their fundamental rights.

In 148 BBY, four Jedi were stationed on the planet Brendok to investigate a vergence in the Force. A series of rash decisions led them into conflict with the local witch coven, who sought to protect their secret of creating life, manifested in two individuals: Osha and Mae. Driven by a desire for an apprentice, the Jedi Sol murdered Mother Aniseya—even though she had decided to let Osha go become a Jedi—and allowed Mae to fall to her apparent death amidst the chaos. The four Jedi took a confused Osha with them and pledged to conceal the truth of the events on Brendok from the Jedi Council, with Sol also wishing to shield Osha from the truth.

In 132 BBY, two of those Jedi were assassinated, prompting an investigation led by Master Vernestra Rwoh, who convened a meeting with several fellow Jedi. Although they concluded that the assassin was a highly skilled Force user, Rwoh rejected Ki-Adi-Mundi's suggestion that they inform the High Council of their findings, stating that the council would be obliged to inform the Senate. She resolved to keep their quest an internal Jedi affair and sent Master Sol to lead it. Rwoh also maintained contact with Senator Isedwa Chuwant to prevent the increasingly popular Senator Rayencourt and his allies from the Expansion Region to support an external review of the Jedi Order. Together with Osha, Master Sol discovered that the assassin was Mae, who had survived the events on Brendok and been trained by a Sith.

However, Osha was seduced by the dark side upon discovering that Sol had killed her and Mae's mother. Mae wanted Sol to face a trial before the Jedi Council and the Senate, but Osha instead killed Sol and joined the Sith. Believing that the Jedi would kill an individual who used the dark side, Mae asked the Sith to erase her memory and let her be captured by the Jedi to keep them ignorant of the events. Vernestra Rwoh realized that the Sith was a former Jedi pupil of hers and that her fellow Jedi had made a series of grave mistakes. Nevertheless, faced with Senator Rayencourt's campaign for increased transparency of the Jedi Order, she lied to a Senate tribunal chaired by Chancellor Drellik about the events on Brendok. On behalf of the Jedi High Council, Rwoh claimed that the recent Jedi murders had been the sole responsibility of one man who had gone rogue and then taken his own life—Master Sol—thereby dismissing Rayencourt's call for a review of the Order.

The Jedi Order had become complacent and comfortable with its elevated status within the Republic. Jedi Master Dooku, born near the end of the High Republic Era and a former apprentice of Yoda, strongly objected to this corruption. Dooku was the son of the Count of Serenno, the head of the noble-led assembly of the planet Serenno, which was named after the ancestor who led the charge against the Sith Empire. Between 68 BBY and around 58 BBY, when Master Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn rescued the kidnapped son of Senator Dagonet, the Jedi discovered that the senator had been severely neglecting the people of his dilapidated world. Dooku's frustration reached a breaking point when the senator ordered his soldiers to kill the citizens who had kidnapped his son. The Jedi Master intervened, stopping the soldiers and nearly killing the senator, but he was stopped by Jinn, who had also freed Dagonet's son. The latter promised the people that he would help them before departing with his father.

Years passed, and Jedi Council Master Katri met her end on Raxus Secundus. Masters Dooku and Mace Windu were dispatched to recover her remains. However, Dooku strayed from their mission to delve into the circumstances of Katri's demise, confronting Senator Larik of Raxus. Larik confessed that his guards were culpable. The guards promptly eliminated Larik but were then subdued by the Jedi. The guards confessed that their motivation was to compel Larik to champion their demands in the Senate. They held the belief that the senator was enriching himself at their planet's expense by trading its resources to off-world industries for industrial purposes, and they also considered the Jedi as mere tools of the Senate. Dooku voiced his disapproval of the guards' methods yet sympathized with their dedication to safeguarding their world. Subsequently, Windu was offered a position on the Jedi Council, and the younger Jedi informed Dooku that the council's decision stemmed from the fact that Dooku's actions resulted in a senator's death.

Following his address to the Senate in 42 BBY, Master Dooku was introduced to Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo by his former Padawan Rael Averross. This occurred after Dooku's departure from the Jedi Order, when he reclaimed his ancestral title as Count of Serenno. Averross, serving as the lord regent of the Inner Rim world Pijal until Princess Fanry reached adulthood, co-authored a treaty with the arms manufacturer Czerka Corporation. This treaty proposed transferring authority from the Pijali monarchy to a democratic Assembly. Fanry, however, feared that the treaty's conditions would prevent the Assembly from genuinely representing the inhabitants of Pijal's moon or from terminating contracts with Czerka. This would enable the corporation to further exploit the Pijali people and their enslaved workforce. Driven by the conviction that her subjects deserved true liberation from Czerka, the crown princess sought to undermine the treaty process. She enlisted the Blackguard—a secret division of the Pijali royal guard led by Captain Deren—to orchestrate a violent series of attacks that Fanry falsely attributed to the Opposition performance troupe, known for their own series of peaceful protests against the Governance Treaty initiative. While not directly involved with the Blackguards, Minister Orth, a close advisor to Fanry and a staunch advocate for Pijal tradition, expressed disdain for the Galactic Senate's capabilities, believing its members were more interested in "posing for their re-election holos".

In 40 BBY, Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, were dispatched to officially endorse the Governance Treaty on behalf of the Republic. The Jedi discovered that Czerka was a powerful business, secretly engaging in slave labor even within its factory located on the Republic Core World of Hosnian Prime. During her coronation, Queen Fanry stabbed Pijal's religious leader for accepting bribes from Czerka and denounced democracy before ordering an assault on the Czerka representative's starship—despite the presence of enslaved individuals on board. Fanry's attendant and confidante, Cady, was appalled by the queen's deviation from her anti-slavery stance and compelled the monarch to surrender. A Republic judicial ruling declared Fanry's coronation illegitimate, leading her to relinquish her claim to Pijal's throne. Her cousin Lamia then ascended as queen, outlawing slavery and establishing a democratic Assembly before dissolving the monarchy. Under the leadership of Governor Orth, the new democracy terminated all of Pijal's agreements with Czerka.

Sometime in the centuries before the Galactic Empire, members of the Gran species violently colonized the Mid Rim planet Malastare. Subsequently, the Republic's Gran Protectorate Act nominally divided Malastare between Gran colonists on the eastern continent and the indigenous Dug on the western continent. In practice, the Gran gained control of the planet and held exclusive representation in the Senate. Gran senators defended the Republic's status quo, even though the majority Dug population of Malastare were denied their rights by the Gran invaders and effectively lived as slaves. Ask Aak, a Gran senator during the Clone Wars, even kept many Dug as servants.

Ask Aak replaced Senator Aks Moe, who represented the Congress of Malastare in the Galactic Senate's Malastare delegation. This delegation also included Senator Ainlee Teem of Malastare and Baskol Yeesrim of the Gran Protectorate. The injustice on Malastare was a source of shame for the democratic Republic, but in 34 BBY, a Republic fleet led by Wullf Yularen and supported by the Jedi defeated Admiral Trench's Corporate Alliance blockade of the planet at the Battle of Malastare Narrows. Senator Moe wielded considerable influence among the Republic's politicians, courts, and lobbyists, profiting from widespread crime and disinvestment in Coruscant's lower levels.

Moe particularly opposed the criminal justice reform proposals put forth by Coruscant Security Force Inspector Tanivos Exantor Divo. Divo spoke out against the complacency fostered by a millennium of peace. After facing strong opposition from figures like Moe, who had deep connections within the Republic bureaucracy, he shifted his strategy. He focused on smaller cases to build larger ones against Coruscant's crime lords and their political allies. The inspector also held a low opinion of the Jedi Order, despite its headquarters being located on the crime-ridden capital, but he appreciated the efforts of Master Quinlan Vos in assisting local police.

As the Republic expanded to support trade for the established Core systems, many Outer Rim systems, such as Eriadu, were compelled to borrow from the InterGalactic Banking Clan at exorbitant interest rates, amassing significant debt. While numerous systems sought Republic membership, their applications were frequently delayed by senators from the core worlds. These senators feared losing political power in the Senate and sought to exploit the resources of new members without investing in the periphery. Coruscanti-centric viewpoints often regarded the outlying systems as uncivilized wilderness. These beliefs were reinforced by the Outer Rim's high crime rates, a consequence of inadequate Republic protection. The Trade Federation originated from the Republic's Free Trade Zones, designed to stimulate economic growth in outlying systems. It was established by companies facing threats to shipping and commerce in these regions around 350 BBY. The corporation incentivized colonization by offering to guide colonists on their hyperspace routes, basing its fees on tariffs and "protection" fees set by the Federation itself. This consolidated its monopoly over the Free Trade Zones by the Republic's final decades.

The Neimoidian people gained substantial political influence through the Trade Federation and felt neglected by the Republic until the corporation's founding. However, Neimoidians gradually lost control of it to the Kuati of Kuat Drive Yards. For centuries before the New Republic Era, Neimoidians had colonized a wealthy network of worlds in the Colonies region known as Purse Worlds, with wealth being funneled to the Trade Monarch on Neimoidia. Neimoidians were born as grubs on their homeworld and competed over enforced food scarcity. Successful adults valued calculation as a survival strategy and traveled off-world, while surviving larvae were enslaved as administrative drones. Among the Purse Worlds were Narq, where the native Narquois people were treated as serfs, and the luxurious bridge city world of Cato Neimoidia.

In 65 BBY, a joint venture between Naboo and Damask Holdings completed the construction of the Theed power generator. The opening ceremony was attended by Naboo official Sheev Palpatine, and it extracted plasma from Naboo's depths to power the capital city of Theed. The complex's operations significantly surpassed Theed's energy needs, and the excess energy was exported through deals arranged via the Trade Federation. The king of Naboo dealt with issues of the plasma trade with the Trade Federation and off-world bankers. Concurrently, the Trade Federation built up its own armed forces, with the Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser's factories producing a massive droid army at the behest of a secretive Lord Sidious.

Lacking protection from criminal organizations, the Republic member world of Eriadu took matters into its own hands, establishing the Outland Regions Security Force. This force, financed by off-world loans, acquired weaponry from arms manufacturers that had been disregarding a Republic ban on selling weapons to member worlds for centuries. Under Wilhuff Tarkin's leadership, it combatted piracy in the Seswenna sector. In 36 BBY, Senator Palpatine allied with Tarkin, agreeing with his assessment that the Republic's Judicials were becoming obsolete in favor of the Jedi Order. Palpatine supported Tarkin's campaign to become the Governor of Eriadu, and Tarkin blocked Chancellor Finis Valorum's requests to investigate the Eriadu Conference. Talks between the Republic and the Trade Federation on the Federation's tariffs in the Free Trade Zones had collapsed due to an attack by the radical Nebula Front, which resulted in the deaths of the Federation directorate. With their removal, Nute Gunray of the Neimoidian faction seized control as the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, and Lott Dod became the corporation's senator, wresting control from the Kuati. The Techno Union subsidiary Kuat Drive Yards firmly aligned itself with the Chancellor of the Republic instead. Chancellor Valorum later managed to push for a Senate proposal to tax the Free Trade Zones.

The Republic relied on volunteer soldiers and Jedi to resolve localized conflicts such as the Stark Hyperspace War, in which Saesee Tiin was a veteran. Tiin became a member of the Jedi High Council, and in 33 BBY, Qui-Gon Jinn challenged the council's excessive focus on large-scale issues while allowing the closure of Jedi outposts, such as the one scheduled to be shuttered on Kwenn, which had been established with considerable effort during the High Republic Era. Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi had witnessed the migration of people from Outer Rim worlds affected by the increased presence of criminal groups following the closure of such outposts. All twelve members of the council agreed to embark on a mission to Kwenn to assist its citizens despite the threat of pirates.

In Wild Space, the Republic and the Jedi had intervened in the war between the Yam'rii and Kaleesh peoples. The Yam'rii possessed advanced technology, exploiting and enslaving the people of Kalee until the Kaleesh warlord Qymaen jai Sheelal led his people in a fierce campaign. This campaign not only resisted the Yam'rii but also drove them off their homeworld of Huk. Displaced, the Yam'rii successfully sought the Republic's aid, which censured the Kaleesh and imposed trade embargoes and fines that led to mass starvation. Qymaen jai Sheelal, now known as "Grievous," developed a vendetta against the Jedi.

Around 33 BBY, HoloNet News reported on the mounting political crises facing Chancellor Finis Valorum's administration. These included a dispute with the Trade Federation over taxation and the collapse of a Republic-mediated reconciliation effort between the Anselmi and Nautolan peoples of the planet Glee Anselm in the Mid Rim. The broadcaster acknowledged that Republic citizens were weary of "doom and gloom" regarding war threats, even though such news boosted the company's ratings. It also reported on a pop icon dating a shockball star as a counterpoint to the negativity. Count Dooku exploited Glee Anselm's difficult situation to further destabilize the Republic government.

In 32 BBY, Naboo was blockaded and invaded by the Trade Federation under the orders of Lord Sidious. Viceroy Gunray aimed to force a resolution to the corporation's Senate dispute over trade route taxation in their favor. However, the sovereign Naboo people had democratically elected the fourteen-year-old Padmé Amidala as their queen. Her youth reflected Naboo culture's emphasis on education and protecting their monarchical tradition against the impersonal and cynical aspects of modern politics, and she refused to yield. The Chancellor had also dispatched Jedi ambassadors Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to Naboo, who escorted Queen Amidala to the Senate on Coruscant. The Queen condemned the invasion as illegal and expressed her frustration with the Senate's inaction and complacency. Senator Aks Moe agreed with the Federation's Senator Lott Dod to simply establish a commission to assess the events on Naboo.

Senator Palpatine then convinced Amidala that the Senate was suffering from Chancellor Valorum's weak leadership and alleged that he was being unduly influenced by the Republic's bureaucrats, who were in turn on the Trade Federation's payroll. Palpatine thus successfully suggested that Amidala move a Vote of No Confidence in Valorum. With Valorum defeated, Palpatine capitalized on other senators' sympathy for Naboo to win the subsequent Chancellorship election, which was contested by Bail Antilles of Alderaan and Ainlee Teem of Malastare.

Although the human Naboo people had colonized Naboo centuries ago, driving the native Gungan people underwater after arriving on the planet as refugees fleeing the Grizmallti civil war in the Core Worlds, Queen Amidala humbly appealed to the Gungans for help. The two peoples embraced their symbiotic bond and defeated the Trade Federation on their homeworld. However, Qui-Gon Jinn was slain by a Sith Lord—the likes of whom the Jedi Order had believed to be extinct for a millennium—who was then defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Gungan High Council subsequently contributed to the planet's democratic process alongside the humans, particularly in matters of off-world relations.

Unbeknownst to them all, Palpatine was secretly Darth Sidious—the master of Qui-Gon Jinn's killer and the mastermind behind the Trade Federation invasion. As Supreme Chancellor, he retained Mas Amedda as the Republic's Vice Chancellor and the Senate's Vice Chair and Speaker. This canny bureaucrat was one of the very few individuals who knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord. Dooku had allied with Sidious, believing that the Jedi blindly served a corrupt Senate and regretting the death of Jinn, his former Jedi apprentice. Sidious appointed Dooku as his new Sith apprentice under the name "Darth Tyranus."

Four years after the Trade Federation invasion and after refusing an offer to amend the Naboo constitution to remain queen, Padmé Amidala accepted the position of Republic Senator for Naboo and the broader Chommell sector at the request of the newly elected Queen Réillata. Amidala joined the political faction led by Senators Bail Organa of Alderaan, Onaconda Farr of Rodia, and Mon Mothma of Chandrila. Although they suspected Senator Mina Bonteri of Onderon of secretly working against the Republic's interests and were cautious about her befriending Amidala, Organa spoke with the new senator and realized they shared a belief in the Republic and its principles of galactic democracy.

In 24 BBY, Dooku delivered the influential Raxus Address. In this address, he criticized the Republic's ineffective bureaucracy and corruption, inspiring many worlds to secede from the Republic. Dooku unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Tarkin as Eriadu's governor to the Separatist cause. This proved Tarkin's loyalty to Palpatine and prevented the count from gaining an economic stranglehold over the Republic.

Chancellor Palpatine retained power beyond the usual term limits due to the ensuing Separatist Crisis, with an increasing number of star systems dissatisfied with the Republic's system of governance threatening to leave the union. Nute Gunray remained viceroy of the Trade Federation despite undergoing four trials at the Republic's Supreme Court. Driven by personal gain, he secretly pledged military support to the secessionist movement's new rival state—Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Trade Federation's reparations to Naboo funded the new Theed Spaceport, and the courts also ordered the corporation to reduce its army. However, economic concerns prevented the Jedi from investigating rumors that this order was not being followed.

As more systems joined the Separatists, several senators, including Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, Ask Aak, and Orn Free Taa from Ryloth, became advisors in Chancellor Palpatine's Loyalist Committee, hoping to protect the Republic's integrity, democracy, and peace. Amidala, speaking for Queen Jamillia, also campaigned relentlessly against the Republic's Military Creation Bill, fearing it would drive the Separatists to seek weapons from the Commerce Guild or Trade Federation. She was aware that these corporations exerted excessive influence over Republic officials, judges, and senators and worried they would plunge the galaxy into civil conflict.

Horox Ryyder, the experienced senator representing the Raioballo sector, supported Amidala's opposition to the bill. However, disillusioned and worn out by politics, he resigned from the Senate with regret, despite being highly respected. Ryyder then toured all the worlds he once represented, continuing to denounce the widespread corruption within the Republic. The Roshu Sune, Gotal terrorists who desired Antar 4, their homeworld, to secede from the Republic, also opposed the bill. A poet laureate from Kooriva created the poster Political Doubletalk for the Roshu Sune's "United Committee for Galactic Peace," alleging that Chancellor Palpatine was using linguistic distortion, promoting security and order as a pretext for his pro-war policies. Before a crucial debate on the legislation, Dooku hired bounty hunters to assassinate Amidala in 22 BBY, but the attempt failed.

During a meeting between Palpatine's committee and members of the Jedi Order, the High Council admitted their ignorance of the assassins' employer but pledged to investigate. Amidala suspected Dooku, believing he aimed to destabilize the Republic, but Ki-Adi-Mundi, a leading Jedi Council member, dismissed Dooku as merely a "political idealist." Later, in private, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi shared his skepticism of all politicians with his Padawan Anakin Skywalker. While Skywalker believed Amidala and Chancellor Palpatine were different, Kenobi, based on his experience, argued that senators abandoned "democratic niceties" to appease campaign donors and that Palpatine cleverly exploited senators' "passions and prejudices."

On the Jedi Council's advice and the Chancellor's order, Amidala briefly sought refuge on Naboo with Padawan Skywalker to prevent further assassination attempts. Queen Jamillia welcomed them and, after discussing the influence of corporate corruption on the Republic's bureaucratic, legislative, and judicial branches and its contribution to the growing tensions between the Republic and the Separatists with Governor Sio Bibble, she declared that they must maintain "faith in the Republic," asserting that "the day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it." As Amidala and Skywalker retreated to the meadows in private and fell in love, they debated democracy. Amidala argued that constitutional laws, such as term limits, were essential to democracy, ensuring politics provided what people "needed" rather than just what they "wanted," while Skywalker admired Palpatine as a strong leader.

Meanwhile, Master Kenobi informed Jedi Council leaders Yoda and Mace Windu about his discovery of a clone army. He learned that the late Master Sifo-Dyas had ordered it on Kamino, an extragalactic world outside the Republic governed by Prime Minister Lama Su and his Ruling Council. The clone troopers were based on the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who claimed to have been hired by a "Lord Tyranus." The discovery of a Separatist Droid Army on Geonosis led Vice Chair Mas Amedda to urge Naboo's Gungan representative, Jar Jar Binks, to call on the Senate to grant the Chancellor unprecedented emergency powers to form a new Grand Army, composed of the newly discovered clone troopers. Following Binks' urging and with it seeming as though there was little choice in fighting back, the fearful Senate empowered the Supreme Chancellor lest they be attacked by the Separatists without a military of their own. Palpatine pledged his "love" for democracy and the Republic and promised to relinquish his powers once the conflict ended.

Yoda later reflected that the Jedi had been too quick to engage in the conflict due to arrogance and fear. Even the wisest Jedi were affected by the dark side within themselves. Yoda and Windu knew their ability to use the Force had weakened but feared that informing the Senate would provoke more opposition against the Jedi, so they decided to keep it secret. When a group of Jedi attempted to rescue Kenobi, Skywalker, and Amidala from Separatist captivity on Geonosis, Dooku, intending to start a war, ordered the execution of all the Jedi present. Clone forces, led by Yoda, then intervened and engaged the Separatists, quickly winning the battle under Jedi command, though they failed to prevent the Separatist leaders from escaping.

The Jedi were now inextricably involved in the Clone Wars. The Jedi Military Integration Act officially appointed Jedi Knights as generals of the Grand Army of the Republic, and even young Padawans were integrated into the war effort as Jedi Commanders. Darth Sidious had the added advantage that the Jedi Council continued meeting in the Jedi Temple, where their wisdom was clouded by the historical Sith's dark side energy from the Shrine in the Depths, as well as by their own dark side, with more Jedi experiencing fear, anger, and hate. Under Jedi leadership, the clone troopers were deployed across the galaxy by the Republic and fought in the name of galactic democracy, an ironic idea considering that the clones themselves had few individual rights. All the same, the clones quickly came to exhibit signs of individuality, something encouraged by the Jedi.

The Separatist Droid Army was under the direct command of Dooku's subordinate, General Grievous, rather than the Separatist Parliament. When this "Supreme Martial Commander" captured Obi-Wan Kenobi and his clone battalion on Caliban, he forced them to rebuild a bridge, despite Kenobi's objection based on the Galactic Accord of Systems, which prohibited forced labor for prisoners of war. The Military Creation Act prompted the Republic's founding Corellia system to close its borders, and other star systems vowed to maintain their own defense forces or even declare independence from the Republic, seeking to avoid increased taxes to fund the new army.

The Reflex Amendment to the Republic constitution granted the Chancellor's office almost complete control over military affairs, making Palpatine the most powerful Chancellor since the Ruusan Reformations. The Senate's Naval Subcommittee approved contracts with Techno Union subsidiary arms manufacturers such as Sienar Systems, Kuat Drive Yards, and BlasTech Industries to supply the fleets. However, the Techno Union had also committed its armies to Count Dooku, producing a million Separatist battle droids for each Republic warship. The Kuat subsidiary Rothana Heavy Engineering had provided the Kaminoan government with the Acclamator-class cruisers that Yoda commanded on Geonosis, and the commissioning of Venator-class Star Destroyers enhanced the Republic's deep-space warfare capabilities.

Republic Venators failed to break Admiral Trench's blockade of the strategically important planet Christophsis, where Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan reported a critical shortage of food, water, and supplies at his Republic-run refugee camp. Among Trench's starships was a Providence-class Dreadnought, a class constructed by the Quarren-managed Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps and Pammant Docks for Viceroy Gunray of the Trade Federation after the Naboo invasion of 32 BBY. Republic and Jedi innovation were crucial in securing the Battle of Christophsis, a victory celebrated by Republic High Command as an example of Jedi-clone collaboration, despite the betrayal of a clone trooper. Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi's encounter with General Grievous in the early weeks of the war highlighted the Separatist general's infamous brutality, including a slaughter on Hypori that demoralized Republic forces.

When the Separatists blockaded and invaded the Republic member planet Ryloth, local residents were forced to surrender after a group led by the radical Cham Syndulla was massacred near Lessu City. Millions of Ryloth citizens were forced into starvation, and Republic Senator Bail Organa and Representative Jar Jar Binks appealed to King Katuunko and his ministers on Toydaria for assistance. Although the Toydarians were eager to remain "neutral" in the war due to pressure from Senator Lott Dod of the Trade Federation and formally refused to allow the Republic to ship relief supplies to Ryloth via Toydarian territory, King Katuunko privately gave assent for Organa and Binks to stage their relief mission in secret from the Trade Federation delegates on Toydaria. The king subsequently decided that Toydaria should join the Republic after negotiations with the Separatists broke down given that Count Dooku's acolyte, Asajj Ventress, had broken her word and ambushed the Republic delegation led by Master Yoda and the Coruscant Guard's diplomatic service.

Separatist Emir Wat Tambor of the Techno Union oversaw the occupation of Ryloth, tasking the tactical droid TX-20 with preventing Republic soldiers from landing using heavy artillery in the city of Nabat. The native Twi'leks were deprived of food and forcibly displaced, their homes having been destroyed while the streets were left barren—TX-20's battle droids took the Nabat's inhabitants hostage and used them as living shields among the cannons, predicting that the Jedi would not be willing to risk the hostages' lives. Indeed, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi was unwilling to endanger the Twi'leks after he and his forces breached Nabat's high wall, yet clone troopers Waxer and Boil found a displaced Twi'lek girl, Numa, who showed them Nabat's underground tunnels. Kenobi's forces distracted TX-20 while the Jedi, Waxer, and Boil freed the Twi'leks and destroyed the cannons. Kenobi and Numa were nearly killed but the Twi'leks, unarmed but angry, overwhelmed TX-20's tank and dismantled the droid, freeing their own home.

As Jedi General Mace Windu led Republic forces to Lessu, Count Dooku ordered Emir Tambor to evacuate from Ryloth while causing maximum damage, intending to signal the high cost of a Republic victory. Windu asked Cham Syndulla and his Twi'lek Resistance for support in liberating the capital. Informed by his mistrust of Senator Orn Free Taa and the possibility of an armed occupation of his homeworld under the Republic, Syndulla was hesitant to commit his group to the Republic's efforts until he heard that Separatists had firebombed villages around Lessu, which were filled with women and children. Senator Taa was likewise suspicious, concerned that Syndulla would seek power on Ryloth, but Windu convinced the two men to agree on a compromise. The senator promised that the Republic Army would leave Ryloth once the droids on the planet were beaten, and the freedom fighter affirmed that he believed in democracy. The joint forces prevented the Separatists from destroying Lessu and accepted their unconditional surrender from Tambor shortly afterward.

General Grievous played a vital role in Sidious's plans for the Clone War. As the cyborg led brutal campaigns across the galaxy, his actions instilled fear and devastation throughout the Republic. Republic propaganda, in fact, exploited Grievous as an "evil" figure, depicting his mask in works like Keep Our Republic Secure and Evil Has Its Eyes On You. Republic propaganda portrayed Grievous as a "mechanical monstrosity," capitalizing on the deep-seated droidophobia that the Clone Wars ignited and exacerbated. Meanwhile, Separatist citizens were shielded from the worst of Grievous's actions.

Grievous also launched a devastating campaign on the Republic using the dreadnought Malevolence, constructed by the Free Dac Volunteers and Pammant Docks and equipped with mega-ion cannons. The campaign spread fear across the Republic as it annihilated numerous Republic warships and advanced into Core Worlds territory. The Malevolence destroyed Venators and even targeted medical transports and the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, which was undefended and housed over 60,000 injured clone soldiers. When Jedi-led forces were about to overwhelm the Malevolence, Grievous briefly took Senator Padmé Amidala hostage in an attempt to halt the Republic assault before abandoning the Malevolence, which Skywalker and Kenobi boarded, joined Amidala and C-3PO aboard, and reprogrammed by sending it into a crash course into the Dead Moon of Antar.

Until Republic forces destroyed Skytop Station, Grievous led another campaign in which he ambushed Republic fleets using intelligence gathered via the listening post. The station was overseen by the ex–Republic Aqualish Senator Po Nudo's Hyper-Communications Cartel, which also operated anti-Republic Shadowfeeds on the HoloNet, supervised by the propagandist and Separatist parliamentarian Ansibella Dellu of Raxus Secundus. The Republic Navy managed to shut down the Shadowfeeds, and the Commission for the Protection of the Republic (COMPOR) was established in response. Associated with Republic Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin, COMPOR produced populist propaganda that supported the consolidation of power in the Chancellorship; Palpatine was granted direct control of the HoloNet, which featured damning footage of Separatist rights violations that were timed to attempts for peace talks in the Senate.

Furthermore, official conversations between Republic senators and their Separatist counterparts was illegal under Senatorial decree for fear it would legitimatize the Separatist cause. Hiding his true nature, Palpatine himself alleged that he was open to negotiation with the Separatists, only to also claim the CIS always ignored his alleged pleas for peace, leaving it to seem as though military victory in war was the only path forward. As the war progressed, the Republic Security Council changed from a Senate committee that made recommendations to the legislature into an advisory council for the Supreme Chancellor on military matters. It oversaw decision-making on which worlds to defend or attack and, along with the Chancellor, could activate any of the 150 general orders subconsciously memorized by each clone in the Grand Army. While Republic civilians ran the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, it was separate from the Republic Intelligence service under the military. At some point during the war, Republic citizens staged a protest against militarization at the Carida Academy, and the father of future rebel Cassian Andor was killed at the demonstration.

Later in 22 BBY, Senator Farr of Rodia struck a deal with Viceroy Nute Gunray to align with the Separatists and capture Senator Padmé Amidala—Farr's longtime friend and Gunray's hated political nemesis—in exchange for crucial supplies. Representative Jar Jar Binks and protocol droid C-3PO proved to be steadfast companions of Amidala's, and Senator Farr decided to help arrest Viceroy Gunray before Chancellor Palpatine pledged relief efforts to Rodia. Fearing that such turn of events meant Gunray would leak important secrets to the Jedi, Darth Sidious arranged for the viceroy to be either rescued or assassinated while he was in transit—Asajj Ventress worked with Senate Commando Captain Faro Argyus to free the prisoner. Having been promised a fortune by Count Dooku, Argyus' betrayal of the Republic weakened the authority of the Senate Guard—elite soldiers clad in distinctive blue armor charged with defending the Republic Senate and its representatives—and Chancellor Palpatine took the opportunity to expand his favored contingent of Red Guards.

The Trade Federation remained officially neutral and continued to be represented in the Republic Senate by Lott Dod. Other Separatist corporate backers, the Techno Union and the Banking Clan, likewise remained represented in the Senate by Gume Saam and Nix Card respectively. The trio plotted together despite Card's contempt for Saam. Conversely, Magistrate Passel Argente of the Corporate Alliance and Kooriva withdrew as a member of the Republic Senate, and Voe Atell represented the alliance in the Separatist Parliament, which met on Raxus Secundus. The Commerce Guild, which competed with the Corporate Alliance, similarly pledged its forces to Count Dooku under Presidente Shu Mai of Castell but did not openly join the Separatists, though Amita Fonti represented the guild in the Separatist Parliament.

In 21 BBY, Count Dooku and Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were captured by Hondo Ohnaka and his pirate gang following a battle. The Republic sent the Gran Senator Kharrus, Representative Jar Jar Binks, and diplomatic service shock troopers to deliver a hefty ransom of spice to the Ohnaka Gang in exchange for the captives. The mission fell apart when Kharrus and several troopers were killed and Dooku and the Jedi escaped separately. As Senator Gume Saam of the Techno Union pushed for a financial reform bill to deregulate the InterGalactic Banking Clan to open more lines of credit to fund the Republic Military, the Loyalist Senators Padmé Amidala, Bail Organa, Onaconda Farr, and Mon Mothma led the opposition. The bill was also supported by the Kaminoan Senator Halle Burtoni.

Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, joined Amidala as the senator broke a Republic law prohibiting diplomatic contact with the Separatists by meeting the pro-peace Onderonian politician Mina Bonteri, and they spearheaded the Confederate–Republic peace initiative. When Voe Atell declared that the Corporate Alliance would not allow the Confederacy to make a peace offering in the Separatist Parliament, Kerch Kushi countered that the Confederacy was a democracy and, "unlike the Republic," was not ruled by corporations. Tano discussed the politics of war with Senator Bonteri's son, Lux Bonteri, and learnt from her time on Raxus that there were heroes on both sides.

Dooku circumvented the Separatist legislative body by secretly ordering the assassination of Mina Bonteri, subsequently laying the blame on the Republic. Following this, he further destabilized the situation by bombing the Coruscant power grid, effectively derailing any progress toward peace. This incensed pro-war Senate members such as Tarnab, Mot-Not Rab, and Zinn Paulness, who then gave their approval to the deregulation bill. Despite this, discourse on financial reform continued, highlighted by Senator Halle Burtoni's proposal for the Republic's acquisition of an additional five million clone troopers. The Banking Clan, which was already profiting from the Republic's war loan at a 10% interest rate, then asserted that they were lending to the Separatists at an even higher rate to finance three million new battle droids, and subsequently increased the Republic's interest rate to 25%.

Amidala feared that the Senate's potential approval of the bill would lead to the Republic's financial ruin, resulting in reduced public funding for essential social services, encompassing education, healthcare, and infrastructure. However, senators who opposed these proposals faced intimidation and violent assaults from thugs employed by Dooku within Coruscant. The city was already enduring mandatory power blackouts along with stringent austerity measures affecting water and foodstuff distribution under the Victory Rationing Program. Despite attacks on Senators Farr, Amidala, and Organa occurring consecutively on Coruscant's streets, Amidala's aide Teckla Minnau urged the Naboo senator to address the Senate.

Amidala, referencing Minnau as a Republic citizen whose livelihood depended on the Republic's essential services, argued that the very lives the Republic was purportedly defending in the war would be undermined if state funds were diverted to the military. Consequently, other senators were convinced to reject the bill, which slowed the war effort, much to Chancellor Palpatine's private displeasure. Palpatine confided in Mas Amedda about possessing "all the power in the galaxy," yet being thwarted by a single senator's ability to "sway the thought of millions," concluding that they must, "for now," permit the Senate's proceedings to continue and adhere to "the principles of our democracy."

Ultimately, the Senate approved the proposal to augment military spending and dismissed Senators Amidala and Farr's motion to curtail it, despite Amidala's prior success in swaying the Roonan Senator Aang, who held the deciding vote on the Military Oversight Committee. Following the vote, Palpatine claimed to Amidala that he had not supported the increased troop production, but also asserted that ensuring the clone army's victory was the Republic's only path to peace, a natural course of action after increasing security in the Senate. Regardless, Palpatine told Amidala that he was upholding democracy by allowing the policy he supposedly disagreed with to remain in effect.

As part of the Republic, the Pantoran people of the moon Pantora declared the planet Orto Plutonia as their protectorate territory, believing it to be uninhabited. Despite discovering the indigenous Talz people in 21 BBY, the Pantoran Supreme Chairman Chi Cho maintained his people's sovereignty over the planet and initiated war. The Jedi were unable to intervene in their capacity as peacekeepers of the Republic Senate, since Chairman Cho proclaimed that the Pantorans' dealings with the Talz were a domestic matter. Pantoran Senator Riyo Chuchi then engaged with the democratic Pantoran Assembly, which deemed Cho's act of war as illegitimate, and its speaker authorized the senator to petition the Jedi Council for intervention. However, Chuchi managed to negotiate directly with the Talz Chieftain, Thi-Sen, thereby concluding the war with the Pantoran people's recognition of the Talz people's sovereignty.

Later in 21 BBY, Onaconda Farr, Zinn Paulness, and fellow senator Kin Robb of Taris became members of the Council of Neutral Systems, an assembly of 1,500 star systems that sought neutrality during the Clone Wars and maintained representation in the Republic Senate. This council was led by Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, and the economies of many of its member systems depended on trade with both the Republic and Separatist factions. Condemning violence as extremism, the Duchess became preoccupied with the terrorist activities of Death Watch, a militant group of Mandalorians funded by Count Dooku and later seized by the rogue Sith Lord and crime boss Maul.

Duchess Satine Kryze advocated for the Mandalorian people's right to self-determination, opposing a Senate bill that would commit the Republic Military to "save" Mandalore. Despite her success in maintaining Mandalore's neutrality throughout the Clone Wars, supply chain pressures fostered corruption within the Mandalorian government, leading citizens to turn to the black market, including for tea that had been improperly diluted and rendered toxic. Prime Minister Almec's government council declined to seek assistance from the Republic, believing it to be more corrupt. Consequently, the Duchess and Senator Amidala privately appealed to the Jedi for support. Padawan Ahsoka Tano was assigned to Mandalore to investigate corruption covertly, under the guise of teaching at the Royal Academy of Government. Tano emphasized citizens' "duty" to scrutinize their leaders to foster honesty and maintain accountable governance, inspiring a group of cadets led by Korkie Kryze to secretly infiltrate a food supply warehouse. Their investigation revealed the Prime Minister's involvement in the black market conspiracy, leading to his arrest.

Subsequently, Senator Bail Organa hosted a conference on Alderaan to address the increasing number of refugees displaced by the war. Padmé Amidala argued that the Senate should enact legislation to safeguard refugee rights and ensure that clone soldiers would have a sense of their own futures beyond the war. Amidala also promoted the opening of diplomatic channels to discuss ending the war, asserting that some within the Confederacy also desired peace, while acknowledging the pervasive presence of agents of chaos, and declaring her unwavering commitment to defending truth and democracy. Although another attempt was made on Amidala's life, Ahsoka Tano intervened and saved her.

When the Trade Federation blockaded Pantora following the election of Baron Notluwiski Papanoida as its Chairman, Senator Lott Dod of the Trade Federation contested Pantoran Senator Riyo Chuchi's accusation that the corporation was allied with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Dod insisted in the Senate that his corporation was neutral and the Pantorans had outstanding debts, but Amidala and Tano privately supported Chuchi's efforts to resist the hostile expansion of the Separatist sphere of influence. Count Dooku offered aid to Pantora if it joined his Separatist Alliance, while bounty hunters abducted Baron Papanoida's daughters, Che Amanwe and Chi Eekway. The chairman concluded that the "wheels of democracy" were turning too slowly for his people, whose views soured on a seemingly unsympathetic Republic Senate, and popular sentiment shifted toward joining the Separatists. However, instead of accepting Dooku's offer, he took it upon himself to investigate his daughters' captors, while Chuchi and Tano inspected the Trade Federation blockade, uncovering the commerce giant's conspiracy. Although the Trade Federation lifted the blockade, Lott Dod was able to insist that the corporation was not associated with the Separatists, denouncing the supervising officer Sib Canay and arguing that Canay was influenced by Nute Gunray.

Later in 21 BBY, the Senate was debating the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill, which proposed allowing the Chancellor to spy on Republic citizens suspected of being Separatists, when a group of senators in opposition were taken hostage inside the Senate Office Building by Cad Bane. Leading other bounty hunters, Bane was hired by the Hutt Clan to demand the release of the crime lord Ziro the Hutt. If Ziro remained in Republic custody, he would be able to reveal the Grand Hutt Council's numerous crimes to the Senate via a holodiary, the location of which only he knew. While Ziro was freed and the Gran Senator Philo was killed, the other hostage senators survived, including Padmé Amidala, Riyo Chuchi, Bail Organa, Onaconda Farr, and Kin Robb. Meanwhile, Bane and his crew escaped into the Coruscant underworld, distracting a pursuing force of Jedi by shooting the engines out of a nearby transport. Ultimately, Bane and his company were able to escape with Ziro, who was returned to the Hutt capital of Nal Hutta.

The Mon Calamari government council approved the election of the Quarren Tikkes as Senator of Mon Cala. However, he joined the Separatists and secured a seat on the Executive Separatist Council at the onset of the war, representing the Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps and Pammant Docks, which produced Separatist capital ships. Other Separatist corporate leaders also contributed their starships and forces to the Confederacy military. Tikkes was succeeded in the Republic Senate by the Quarren Tundra Dowmeia, who shared representation of Mon Cala with the Mon Calamari Senator Meena Tills.

In 20 BBY, civil war broke out between the Quarren and Mon Calamari peoples on their shared homeworld. This was incited after the Separatist-backed Quarren Isolation League of Chieftain Nossor Ri rebelled against the Mon Calamari monarchy, which had governed alongside representatives of both species. The Mon Calamari Senator Meena Tills appointed Gial Ackbar as the personal protector of Prince Lee-Char, the heir to the throne, and appealed to the Jedi and the Republic for assistance, receiving additional Gungan reinforcements from Naboo. The Quarrens agreed to restore the monarchy under the Mon Calamari King Lee-Char after discovering that Dooku had promised the Separatist ambassador, Riff Tamson, control of their world. Nevertheless, Tikkes remained loyal to the Confederacy and retained his seat on the Separatist Council.

Dooku shifted his focus to conquering Naboo, which was experiencing civil unrest as the Gungans' city faced power shortages. Dooku promised the Gungan minister Rish Loo a key role in the "new order" of a Separatist-occupied Naboo, so Rish Loo manipulated the popular Boss Lyonie using sorcery. Lyonie recounted that Rish Loo fed him "lies and misinformation" to incite discontent against the human Naboo, blaming them for all the troubles of Gungan society. The Gungan Grand Army embraced Lyonie's rhetoric and prepared to march on the city of Theed, prompting Queen Neeyutnee to request Senator Padmé Amidala and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker to find a diplomatic solution. The pair then spoke with Representative Jar Jar Binks and General Roos Tarpals—a veteran of the battle against the Trade Federation and a firm believer in the friendship between the Gungans and the Naboo—who broke Rish Loo's influence on Lyonie and convinced the Gungan boss to order the Gungan army to stand down.

However, General Grievous' Separatist Droid Army had been invited to march alongside the Gungans, forcing Representative Binks to masquerade as Boss Lyonie to stall the attack. The Gungans deactivated the droid army, and Tarpals sacrificed himself to capture Grievous. However, Darth Sidious, requiring the general for his war plans, exploited Senator Amidala's relationship with Skywalker and ordered Dooku to capture the Jedi for a prisoner exchange. Despite believing that Grievous' capture would win the war, Amidala agreed to the exchange with the support of Binks, Boss Lyonie, and Queen Neeyutnee.

The Aleena people on the planet Aleen maintained a pastoral way of life organized by faith and families, which formed tahiko kinship groups. Tahikos were represented by their eldest member in a planet-wide collective of advisors who elected the largely ceremonial King of Aleen, typically a priest. The Aleena had limited contact with the wider galaxy to maintain peace with the Underworld, home to the Kindalo people. This was a result of a destructive and technologically advanced war between them millennia before the Clone Wars. The notional Kindalo government operated on a system of anarchical consensus, never taking action on a societal level unless every Kindalo agreed. Consequently, the Kindalo had only a handful of absolute laws, one of which was the compact they shared with the Aleena: the separation of the two peoples, enforced by the Great Seal, which the Republic droids C-3PO and R2-D2 helped reseal when it was disturbed later in 20 BBY.

C-3PO and R2-D2, who respectively assisted Senator Amidala and her Jedi husband, Anakin Skywalker, then stumbled upon the planet Patitite Pattuna, where they accidentally and literally stumbled upon the dictator "Big" Hay-Zu. The potentate of the petite Patitite people was killed when C-3PO knocked R2-D2 for making an uncivil remark, and the falling R2-D2 crushed the "big" dictator. When the Patitites requested C-3PO to stay as their new leader, the droid instead suggested that they find someone among their own. C-3PO asked them to nominate three of the most intelligent, understanding, and compassionate individuals, and then asked the remaining people to shout their support for the three nominees in turn. The crowd was unable to decide the winner and began scuffling, at which point C-3PO decided to leave them to build their "happy democracy" on their own.

A peace conference between Republic and Separatist politicians was chaired by Duchess Satine Kryze in 20 BBY. Attendees included Senators Amidala, Organa, and Mothma of the Republic, as well as the Separatist Parliament's chair, Bec Lawise, and members Voe Atell and Amita Fonti. The latter two were corporate-allied politicians with minimal interest in peace, and the talks did indeed collapse. The Separatists arrested Lux Bonteri for accusing Dooku of assassinating his mother, the late Senator Mina Bonteri, after he barged into the meeting. The Jedi Ahsoka Tano and R2-D2 then battled the Separatist-allied Death Watch Mandalorians to rescue him.

Lux Bonteri later assisted in persuading Jedi and clone forces to secretly train insurgents led by Steela and Saw Gerrera in their "armed struggle" against the Separatist-allied monarchy of Sanjay Rash on Onderon. Rash and his Separatist masters had deposed Ramsis Dendup as king, and attempted to publicly execute him after he emphasized that dissent was the "will of the people." Following Steela's and many other rebels' martyrdom in skirmishes, Onderon militias repelled the Separatists with additional firepower supplied by Hondo Ohnaka and his pirates, courtesy of a deal with Anakin Skywalker. Skywalker was frustrated with the Jedi Order's refusal to partake in the civil war. This allowed the restored king to assert Onderon's freedom and appoint Bonteri as Onderon's representative to the Republic Senate.

Later in 20 BBY, Count Dooku orchestrated a bounty hunter plot to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Palpatine during a public address on Naboo. The Jedi High Council had Obi-Wan Kenobi fake his own death to infiltrate the bounty hunters, keeping their counter-operation secret from both the Republic and the wider Jedi Order, including Anakin Skywalker. After the Jedi foiled the kidnapping attempt, Skywalker privately confessed his frustration with Kenobi and the council's lack of trust in him to the Chancellor when they were ambushed by Dooku. Having successfully distracted the rest of the Jedi security detail, the Sith Lord overwhelmed Skywalker and nearly captured Palpatine when Kenobi intervened.

Darth Sidious viewed Asajj Ventress and the witches of Dathomir as a threat to his plans. After forcing his apprentice to abandon Ventress as the Separatists withdrew from Sullust, which was home to the Commerce Guild's SoroSuub Corporation, Sidious tasked General Grievous with the massacre on Dathomir, which was outside the Republic and beyond its protection. During the war, the Republic also established a Population Observation program that surveyed public opinions on various aspects of the conflict, which revealed increasing anti-Jedi sentiment. While the Jedi Order had been thrusted into warfare, some Jedi insisted on remaining true to their traditions, while others were willing to explore more extreme methods. Jedi General Pong Krell had become disdainful of clone lives and the Republic. After sending scores of men to their deaths at the Battle of Umbara in 20 BBY, he was relieved of service and killed by clone troopers.

Jedi Knight Barriss Offee criticized the Order's involvement in the war and bombed the Jedi Temple in 19 BBY, killing fellow Jedi, clone troopers, and civilians to make her point. Numerous Coruscanti accused the Jedi of corruption and condemned their government's "cloning violence" during anti-war protests held in front of the Jedi Temple. The Jedi were deliberately omitted from the Republic's wartime propaganda, and on the Separatist side, the mysterious Jedi were also branded as hypocrites—self-styled "guardians of peace" who gladly led "slaves bred for war."

During the investigation into the bombing, Offee framed Ahsoka Tano for her own terrorism. The Jedi Council expelled Tano from the Order so that she may be tried by the Republic Military. Chancellor Palpatine oversaw the proceedings as Admiral Tarkin pressed for Tano's prosecution, while the jury was comprised of senators. Among them were Riyo Chuchi, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Mot-Not Rab, and Kin Robb, while Senator Padmé Amidala spoke in Tano's defense. The court case nearly concluded in favor of Tano's prosecution when Anakin Skywalker presented Offee, whom he had captured following an aggressive confrontation. She admitted the truth of her actions, vocally condemning the Jedi as being responsible for the Clone Wars while denouncing the Republic, claiming that the democratic union was failing. Although the Jedi Council agreed to invite Tano back into the Order as a Jedi Knight, she decided to refuse and instead find her own path.

Later in 19 BBY, financial support for both sides of the conflict was still provided by the Banking Clan. The Core Five leaders were found guilty of financial crimes by the Muun government, which then appointed Rush Clovis with the agreement of both the Republic, whose diplomatic delegation at the Banking Clan headquarters on Scipio was headed by Senator Padmé Amidala, and the Separatists, whose delegation was represented by Bec Lawise. Count Dooku secretly threatened Clovis, warning that the Separatists would default on their Banking Clan loans; as a result, Clovis increased interest rates for the Republic. Senators Kin Robb, Meena Tills, and Mot-Not Rab voiced their strong disapproval of the bank, a sentiment that grew when Chancellor Palpatine confirmed that the Separatists were not subjected to similar rate increases.

Subsequently, Separatist forces ambushed the Republic delegation and, following Dooku's directives, arrested Senator Amidala. Bec Lawise protested, asserting that the Separatist Parliament would never condone such an arrest. Dooku then manipulated Amidala's blaster to shoot Lawise before leaving Scipio. With the backing of senators alarmed by the Separatist takeover of the banks, Chancellor Palpatine authorized a Republic invasion of Scipio, compelling the bank to transfer its assets to the Office of the Chancellor.

In that very same year, Queen Julia sought assistance from the Senate—specifically Jar Jar Binks—due to the disappearances of members of her ruling Bahk-tov Council. Although the monarch, who was elected by the council, led it, all policy decisions required a unanimous vote from the council, which included members of the pacifist Dagoyan Order. The militant Frangawl Cult abducted the Dagoyan Masters, but Jedi Master Mace Windu, who had been sent as Representative Binks' partner, defeated them. Consequently, Queen Julia suggested a new era of improved relations between the Dagoyan and Jedi Orders.

Burdened by three years of war, the Jedi Council was horrified by Dooku's public genocide on Mahranee and dispatched Master Quinlan Vos on a secret mission to assassinate Dooku. Vos partnered with Dooku's ex-pupil Asajj Ventress, developed feelings for her, and, ignoring Ventress' warnings, became consumed by the single-minded goal of eliminating Dooku—he succumbed to the dark side and became a dangerous Separatist admiral. The Jedi Council recognized this plan as a serious strategic and moral error, especially as Ventress continued to make sacrifices to save Vos and encouraged him to choose the light. Vos discovered that Dooku was the Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord whom Dooku had claimed was manipulating the Republic from the start of the war. Late in the war's third year, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker further discovered that Dooku was the same "Lord Tyranus" who had hired Jango Fett as the clone troopers' template and collaborated with Sifo-Dyas—the Jedi Master who had ordered a clone army for the Republic from the Kaminoans without Senate approval.

Grand Master Yoda embarked on a spiritual journey, learning about the Living Force's connection to the Cosmic Force, and accepted that he, like every Jedi, had a dark side. Yoda believed that the Jedi's collective ignorance of their own darkness had already cost them victory in the war, yet he resolved to commit to the light—and nearly exposed Darth Sidious' identity. Consequently, the Sith Lord hastened to execute his Grand Plan against the Jedi by initiating the Battle of Coruscant. Separatist forces, led by General Grievous, kidnapped the Supreme Chancellor from Coruscant, prompting the Jedi Council to recall Kenobi and Skywalker from the Outer Rim Sieges. This action thwarted an attempt by Sidious' former apprentice, Maul, to lure Skywalker to the war-torn world of Mandalore and forced Maul—who was aware of the Grand Plan—to send his Shadow Collective criminal empire into hiding. Violating Jedi ethics, Anakin Skywalker executed Dooku at Palpatine's instruction during the battle, further contributing to his descent into the dark side.

Despite previous failed peace efforts, Padmé Amidala was a member of the Delegation of 2,000, a group of Senatorial representatives including Meena Tills, Tundra Dowmeia, Mon Mothma, Fang Zar from the Sern sector worlds including Ghorman, Chi Eekway Papanoida in Riyo Chuchi's place, and Terr Taneel from the Senex sector—who gathered at Bail Organa's Cantham House office. The Sector Governance Decree—an amendment to the Galactic Constitution that allowed for the appointment of governors to coordinate the Republic war effort by acquiring production facilities in their assigned sectors—was passed late in the third year of the conflict and served as the catalyst for the delegation. They planned to present their petition to Chancellor Palpatine, urging him to relinquish his emergency powers once they had obtained 2000 signatures. As the Outer Rim Sieges cornered the Separatists, the delegation wanted Palpatine to revoke his Sector Governance Decree and initiate ceasefire negotiations.

Following Dooku's death, the Jedi Masters believed that the war would conclude upon General Grievous' capture. The Jedi also desired Palpatine to step down, as his term had long expired and the Senate was scheduled to vote on granting the Chancellor even more emergency powers. Nevertheless, the council focused on the Outer Rim Sieges to pursue the Separatists—at Master Ki-Adi-Mundi's suggestion, Yoda was sent to defend the Wookiees on Kashyyyk. Throughout the war, Yoda was troubled by a premonition that an era was ending, but before departing Coruscant, the Grand Master offered counsel to Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi war hero had been dreaming of his secret lover, Padmé Amidala, dying during childbirth, and Yoda insisted that the young man must release his attachments to everything he feared losing.

Skywalker and Amidala discussed his concern that the Jedi Order was violating the principles of the Republic due to the war. The senator responded by expressing her worry that the Republic was becoming the "evil" they had been "fighting to destroy." She questioned whether the democracy they thought they were serving still existed and believed that the war represented a "failure to listen," urging Skywalker to use his closeness with Palpatine to advocate for a return to diplomacy. Skywalker likened her concerns to those of the Separatists but also admitted his irritation—particularly due to his nightmares, which reminded him of his visions of his mother dying.

Skywalker vowed to Amidala that he would not let her die and also spoke with Palpatine, who appointed the troubled Jedi as his representative to the Jedi High Council, which troubled the Jedi Masters given that they had elected their own members and were concerned about Skywalker's friendship with Palpatine. The council allowed Skywalker to join—but without the rank of Jedi Master, and, confidentially, they further tasked Skywalker with spying on the Chancellor. Although Skywalker believed it was treason against the Jedi Code, the Republic, and Palpatine as his longtime mentor and friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi emphasized that they were at war and that the Jedi's allegiance was to the Senate, not its leader.

Darth Sidious contacted General Grievous on Utapau, instructing him to send the Separatist Council to the desolate world of Mustafar. The Sith Lord then met with Skywalker again, informing him that Grievous was on Utapau and expressing his desire for the young Jedi to lead the battle against the general. Skywalker was pleased to hear of the Chancellor's confidence in him and discussed the Jedi Council's spying assignment with Palpatine, who suggested that the masters did not trust the young man and were plotting to seize control of the Republic. Skywalker agreed that he felt the Jedi Council was disrespecting the Republic's democracy, but he argued that the Jedi were selfless and therefore very different from the Sith, who only thought about themselves. The astute politician then shifted the conversation to his knowledge of Sith lore, piquing Skywalker's interest with a story about Darth Plagueis' study of the power to create life and prevent death.

When Skywalker informed the Jedi Council of Grievous' location, the masters voted in agreement with Ki-Adi-Mundi's proposal to send Kenobi to Utapau instead. Upon learning that Kenobi was fighting Grievous, Mace Windu dispatched Skywalker to determine whether Palpatine would relinquish his powers after the general's defeat. Ki-Adi-Mundi stated that the Chancellor must relinquish his powers, and Windu said that he sensed the shroud of the dark side surrounding the Chancellor, suggesting that the Jedi Council might be forced to "take control of the Senate to ensure a peaceful transition" of power. However, Grand Master Yoda cautioned that such thinking could lead them down a "dark path." Haunted by the thought that other Jedi were preventing him from obtaining a power he believed necessary to "save" Padmé Amidala, Skywalker was seduced by the Chancellor, who revealed that he was indeed the remaining Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, who had orchestrated the Clone Wars.

Enraged by the revelation, Skywalker initially contemplated killing the Sith Lord but refrained from doing so. The Chancellor agreed that Skywalker must fulfill his duty as a Jedi by reporting to the Jedi Council. As Mace Windu learned from Skywalker that Palpatine was Darth Sidious, the Jedi Master sensed Skywalker's emotional turmoil and instructed him to remain in the Jedi Temple. Windu and several other council members then proceeded to the Chancellor's office, intending to arrest the statesman. Invoking the name of the Republic Senate, they demanded that the Chancellor surrender his executive powers over the Senate and allow the legislative body to determine his fate. However, Darth Sidious retorted that he himself was "the Senate" and attacked the Jedi within his office. The Sith Lord proved to be a formidable adversary until Windu disarmed him of his lightsaber.

The Jedi Master was prepared to kill Sidious when Skywalker, frustrated by the Jedi's distrust and concerned about his wife's fate, burst into the office. Skywalker's request that the Chancellor be given a trial was rejected by Windu, who reasoned that the Sith Lord controlled the Senate and the courts and must be eliminated to prevent the return of the "oppression of the Sith." Skywalker was ultimately tempted by Sidious' promise of power and intervened in favor of the Sith, who then killed Windu. Skywalker submitted to the Dark Lord, who appointed him as his new Sith apprentice under the name Darth Vader.

Vader's initial task was to massacre the Jedi, including younglings, in Coruscant's Jedi Temple. The Chancellor then ordered the Republic army to destroy the Jedi Order and convened the Republic's representatives for a special session of Congress. Addressing the Senate Rotunda, Darth Sidious was applauded as he announced the suppression of "the Jedi rebellion"—the man, visibly scarred from the Jedi attack and wearing a red Sith robe that revealed a portion of his disfigured face, abandoned the voice and demeanor of a benevolent senator and declared all Jedi as traitors to the Republic. He then proclaimed the reorganization of the Republic into the fascist Galactic Empire.

The vast majority of clone troopers obeyed Palpatine's command and carried out the genocide of the Jedi Order, driven by the programmed chips in their brains, with some justifying their actions with the phrase "good soldiers follow orders." With the galaxy's inhabitants weary of war and many hoping for peace at any cost after countless billions had perished, Palpatine's proclamation was welcomed by many Senate representatives and the wider galaxy. As Amidala sadly observed in the Senate Chamber, democracy died to thunderous applause. Her husband later traveled to Mustafar, where he executed the Separatist Council and ensured the immediate deactivation of the Separatist Droid Army at the new Emperor's direction.

The war concluded, and democratic principles were effectively dismantled on a galactic scale with Palpatine's personal dictatorship. The Jedi Purge eliminated the possibility of a Jedi rebellion against the New Order—though among the few survivors were Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who received assistance from Senator Organa. Kenobi joined Padmé Amidala as she confronted her husband on Mustafar. The Jedi Master affirmed his loyalty to the Republic and to democracy, but Vader had been corrupted by his new master's promise of power and believed the Jedi were in the wrong—he claimed to have created his own "new empire" of "peace, freedom, justice, and security." Vader even boasted to his wife that he could overthrow Palpatine so that they could rule the galaxy together, but she rejected the offer, realizing that her husband had indeed led the attack on the Jedi Temple and subverted democracy. Vader was defeated in a duel with Kenobi but survived to become the Emperor's primary enforcer, clad in intimidating armor; Amidala lost her will to live, but not before giving birth to the twins Luke and Leia.

The self-proclaimed Emperor ushered in an era of rule characterized by harsh laws, terror, and oppression, establishing an authoritarian military state largely controlled by the Imperial Starfleet and armies. He appointed Governor-Generals and Moffs—sector governors who commanded planetary governors and were accountable only to the Imperial executive of high-ranking bureaucrats and the Emperor himself, rather than the war-weary citizens. Grand Vizier Mas Amedda led a celebration of "freedom" from the Jedi's "Separatist plots" to assassinate Palpatine, and the Emperor transformed the Jedi Temple into his own Imperial Palace. People who remembered the Jedi and were unwilling to die for their beliefs remained silent, becoming fearful and apathetic.

While the Emperor permitted the existence of an Imperial Senate, sixty-three senators who had been members of the Delegation of 2,000 were arrested and charged with treason the day after the Empire's founding. Senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa were released, but they discovered that the new Senate lacked power.

The Empire began occupying the former Separatist capital world, Raxus Secundus, early in its reign. Former Senator Avi Singh addressed a dissatisfied crowd in Raxulon plaza square, speaking out against the Imperial presence imposing itself without the people's consent, but Imperial tanks forcibly dispersed the crowd. Moff Tarkin also oversaw indiscriminate mass arrests and massacres on the former Separatist world Antar 4. Although the Empire censored news reports, the media labeled it the Antar Atrocity, and Emperor Palpatine distanced himself from the controversy by removing Tarkin from the Gotal homeworld. Tarkin was then assigned to the military campaign in the Western Reaches to eliminate remaining Separatist holdouts.

Where the Empire used oppressive force, acts of resistance also increased. Even planets that had been allied with the Republic during the war were militarily occupied by the Empire against the will of their populations, leading to localized armed resistance movements. Saw Gerrera and his insurgents on Onderon regrouped as the Partisans and fought the Empire off-world, eventually focusing on Kashyyyk, where the Wookiees were enslaved as laborers under Imperial rule. In 18 BBY, the farmers who had welcomed former Jedi Ahsoka Tano on the moon Raada launched a spontaneous but unsuccessful uprising, though the survivors were rescued by Bail Organa's secret resistance movement.

Cham Syndulla established the Free Ryloth Movement after Imperial forces broke the Republic's promise to leave their homeworld and instead exploited its natural resources. Senator Orn Free Taa was booed when he urged his people to support the Empire in a speech in Lessu, and Cham Syndulla followed by asking his followers to lay down their arms, which received some cheers. However, freedom fighters Gobi Glie and Serin, along with Cham's daughter, Hera, acquired weapons from the defected "Bad Batch" clone squad, wary of a new Imperial doonium refinery. The Twi'leks were arrested and deemed guilty of treason without trial by the Empire, forcing Cham and Eleni Syndulla to rescue their daughter. Although Ryloth was designated a "free and independent" protectorate by the Empire, the Syndullas waged an insurgency against the occupation, which also exploited the planet for its wealth in spices.

Around the same time, under Admiral Tarkin's orders, Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart's Imperial forces destroyed the Kamino cloning facilities. When the Senate subsequently debated the Imperial Defense Recruitment Bill, Rampart explained that the bill would enable the Imperial Military to replace the aging clone trooper veterans inherited from the Republic with soldiers recruited from Imperial populations. Senator Gani Riduli of the Banking Clan and the Commerce Guild representative supported the bill. Senators Riyo Chuchi, Bail Organa, and Tynnra Pamlo spoke in opposition—the latter represented Taris and criticized the bill as a plan to unnecessarily build a new military, and they successfully forced the bill to be postponed for multiple debate sessions. The Kaminoan senator Halle Burtoni had been removed from office after discovering that Rampart was embezzling funds on the Defense Finance Committee for his stormtrooper program, and she attempted to live a quiet life on Coruscant after criticizing Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su for arrogantly believing that the Empire needed their people's cloning services.

Senator Chuchi persuaded Burtoni to testify before the Senate about Rampart's misuse of government funding and—with the help of the Bad Batch and the Clone Underground movement, whose fellow clones were denied representation in the Senate and were themselves fugitives from Imperial service—publicly revealed evidence of Rampart's fleet attacking Kamino. However, Emperor Palpatine, who had been absent from most Senate sessions and allowed Grand Vizier Amedda to preside alone, personally appeared in the Senate Chamber. He claimed that Rampart had acted without authorization and convinced the Imperial Senate to pass the bill into law, ushering in the age of the Imperial stormtrooper. Military service recruits trained in the new Imperial Academies, which appealed to young people who wanted to travel off-world or otherwise felt a lack of control over their own lives, especially in the Outer Rim.

Shortly thereafter, Royce Hemlock, a doctor whose aggressive methods had compromised the Republic's democratic principles, was appointed to lead the Imperial Advanced Science Division. There, as part of Project Necromancer, he conducted secret biological experiments for the Emperor, using unwilling clones as test subjects. Following the Bad Batch's disruption of Hemlock's facility in a skirmish, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin reallocated the funding to Project Stardust. This superweapon initiative had been secretly under development by the Republic Special Weapons Group, utilizing plans the Sith had acquired from Geonosians who feared Jedi-caused doom after the Clone Wars began.

Despite the hardships faced by ordinary citizens, the Imperial government's propaganda machine promoted the idea that success was attainable for all. Senator Daho Sejan declared that the Empire was founded on security and prosperity, attributing the ongoing problems to supposed dissidents and terrorists hidden among the populace, and he urged "loyal" citizens to identify these alleged enemies. Sejan promised these loyalists new opportunities as the Empire expanded its reach throughout the galaxy. On the ecumenopolis Troithe, which had experienced industrial decline since the Clone Wars, the Emperor enjoyed considerable support. Senator Lud Morrai of Troithe informed Mon Mothma that Palpatine was an appealing populist who delivered tangible benefits to the people. He was credited with curbing corporate power, ending the war, and vowing to eliminate the influence of detached politicians and hereditary nobility. However, Mothma recognized that power was simply being transferred to Palpatine and his allies, rather than to the people themselves.

Arsin Crassus and other financiers directed Separatist funds to the Empire, and the regime absorbed the corporate entities that had supported the Separatist Alliance. The former Separatist worlds, with their heavy industrial capacity, became a valuable asset to the Empire, which nationalized their means of production as part of Imperialization and integrated significant amounts of weapons equipment into the Imperial Military. The InterGalactic Banking Clan outwardly professed loyalty to the Empire, which was blockading their Scipio headquarters. However, the corporation secretly funded armed resistance against Imperial rule and engaged in violent trade wars with the Hutt Clan for control of smuggling routes. The new regime exploited the Outer Rim hyperlanes that the Republic had secured with the Hutt Cartel during the war, expanding its influence without regard for the independence of neutral star systems.

An Imperial amendment to a Senate bill aimed at creating jobs on Corellia resulted in the transformation of the civilian Corellian shipyards into a subsidiary of Kuat Drive Yards, tasked with producing Star Destroyers. This led to severe pollution of the planet's upper atmosphere and the extinction of the bay squids in the Ugyir River. Meanwhile, the White Worms criminal syndicate operated freely in the streets between factories jointly owned by Sienar Fleet Systems and the Santhe Corporation. The Imperial Starfleet gained a reputation for brutality after its orbital bombardment of Haruun Kal, a former Separatist world, which suppressed the local insurrection.

The "supreme triangle" of the Federal District consisted of the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Inspectorate HQ, and the arcology complex that housed the newly established Commission for the Preservation of the New Order (COMPNOR) and the Ubiqtorate of Imperial Intelligence. Coruscant's skyline was increasingly characterized by Palpatine's preferred brutalist architectural style, overshadowing the elegant lines of Republic architecture surrounding the Senate, which faced increasing pressure from the executive branch. Imperial High Command requested the Senate to repeal the Unknown Alien protocols, which mandated that all contact with undiscovered sentient species be investigated by the legislative body. Rumors circulated within the military that the Emperor intended to abolish the protocols altogether.

Madelin Sun, a scholar, noted that the Emperor's rise to power was fueled by fear of the Jedi. Citizens accepted the claim made by their elected leader that the Jedi, possessing powers beyond comprehension for most, were subverters of democracy and peace. Subsequently, the Empire systematically erased memories of the Jedi, rewriting history. Alternative perspectives on the Clone Wars from both the Republic and Separatist sides were suppressed, and relevant records, including any mention of the Jedi, were censored. While older Imperials recalled the alleged Jedi coup against Palpatine, Imperial teachings portrayed the Jedi as an insignificant cult and emphasized the Emperor's promise to eliminate corruption and inefficiencies within the Republic, curbing local governments and corporate powers while reducing petty crime.

COMPNOR, formed from the populist propaganda movement known as the Commission for the Protection of the Republic, was tasked with promoting the ideals of the New Order, as enshrined in the Imperial Charter. Shortly after its drafting, the Empire's Imperius Unitada ober Totallex poster promoted the ideology of "Empire united over all" using brutalist and fascist imagery, including a human fist, as the New Order promoted xenophobia against non-human "aliens." Post-Imperial historians criticized the late Republic era for its focus on distractions, with citizens embracing formulaic hero-versus-villain narratives instead of focusing on corruption within governing institutions like the Senate. COMPNOR's Sub-Adult Group provided a non-military option for young people who did not join the Imperial Academies, training them to become loyal administrators within the Imperial bureaucracy.

Tarkin personally oversaw the Invasion of Mon Cala alongside Darth Vader and the Inquisitors—former Jedi students who had been corrupted by the dark side and inducted into the Empire. Ferren Barr, a Jedi, believed that revealing Palpatine's enforcers were former Jedi could have weakened the new regime in its early stages, but he considered it too late given the Emperor's successful deception. Instead, Barr sought to highlight the more easily understood concepts of oppression and freedom by provoking Imperial aggression on Mon Cala, hoping to inspire galactic resistance. King Lee-Char, heeding Barr's prediction that the Mon Calamari would be central to the fight for freedom, mobilized the forces of Raddus and Gial Ackbar. However, the Imperial war machine swiftly conquered Mon Cala. Consequently, Raddus led an exodus of city-ships into space, which later formed a core component of the interstellar rebel movement.

Wullf Yularen, who had served Anakin Skywalker with distinction during the Clone Wars, became a prominent member of the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). The ISB assumed law enforcement responsibilities from local agencies, such as Tanivos Divo's Coruscant Security Force. Divo retired during the Imperial Era, and his daughter, Andressa Divo, became an ISB agent who supported the new government's increasingly draconian law enforcement practices. When Lasan resisted Imperial rule, the Empire invaded the planet in 7 BBY and nearly exterminated the Lasat people using T-7 ion disruptor rifles. The Imperial Senate outlawed the use of T-7s, which were recalled and destroyed. Senator Tynnra Pamlo personally witnessed evidence of the atrocity, although Alexsandr Kallus, who had authorized the use of the disruptors against the Lasat, remained an ISB agent with the authority to override civilian and military orders and commandeer military forces, including Star Destroyers.

The Outer Rim agriworld Lothal was governed from the Senate Building in the planet's capital until the Imperial occupation, which diverted Lothal's resources to a new military-industrial complex overseen by the Imperial Complex. The Lothal Senate was replaced by an expanding government bureaucracy under Governor Arihnda Pryce. Following insurgent activity by the Spectres rebel group, a military lockdown of Lothal was imposed by Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, better known as Thrawn. The admiral, a member of the Chiss Ascendancy from the Unknown Regions, analyzed his adversaries' artwork. Thrawn maintained his people's isolation from the wider galaxy, believing that the Republic's democratic system was inefficient. Ezra Bridger, a Lothalite Jedi learner and member of the Spectre family, pledged to protect his loved ones from the Empire and received guidance from Yoda to focus not on simply winning the war, but on choosing how to win.

Devaron, a planet in the Colonies region, retained its representative democracy. The sparsely populated world's economy was supported by remittances from off-world Devaronians, predominantly men. Women held the majority of positions in the Devaronian government and other leadership roles, including in businesses and the Senate, though the rule of law continued to guarantee gender equality. The people of Devaron resented the appointment of a human Imperial governor and tacitly supported a significant number of Devaronians joining the Rebellion, which prompted Imperial interference in Devaronian remittances. Tholoth, another democratic planet in the Colonies, was governed by a head executive chair and a legislative senate, mirroring the Republic's governmental structure. However, it underwent systematic Imperialization, with its cosmopolitan culture, encompassing diverse species, architecture, and languages, being stripped of elements deemed foreign to the Tholothian species by the Empire, transforming it into a mere resort for Imperial officers.

Iktotch, a planet in the Expansion Region, also maintained a representative democracy. Instead of installing an Imperial governor, the Empire simply imposed a blockade, as the Iktotchi people were largely isolationist, informed by their cautious foresight of Imperial tyranny. Elsewhere in the region, the Empire attempted to recruit warriors from Thisspias, where Imperial propaganda emphasized the Republic's decadence. The Thisspiasians resisted the Empire, whose governor deposed the Blood Monarch, leading to increased insurrection, with royalists and monarchical abolitionists uniting against the Imperial occupation. The Imperial occupation of Castell, led by the "Burning Moff" Ssaria, was brutal and provoked Papa Toren, a crime lord who lost a trinket to Ssaria's plundering.

The semi-nomadic Vurk people of Sembla in the Outer Rim possessed a complex system of personal governance and political participation that was often dismissed as primitive. The Vurk resolved interpersonal disputes by proposing potential compromises, escalating the issue to the community level, which then became informal rules of behavior. Vurk who disagreed migrated to other Vurk communities and were judged based on their reputations, which in turn prompted new discussions about ethics and consent, constantly questioning ethical and moral issues to gain a better understanding of them. Imperials exploited the Vurk as a source of cheap labor, and Vurk in other parts of Sembla were often slow to unite against the Empire due to their culture of individually assessing and discussing issues.

In 5 BBY, Senator Mon Mothma collaborated with Luthen Rael's Axis network and diverted funds to support the nascent rebellion. Unable to continue drawing money from her family accounts, Mothma requested her Chandrilan banker friend Tay Kolma to oversee a new "charity" program. When the oligarch Davo Sculdun discovered that Mothma had misappropriated 400,000 credits, he pressured the senator to arrange a marriage between her thirteen-year-old daughter, Leida Mothma, and his son. Meanwhile, the Ghorman Front actively resisted the Imperial regime, and Imperial Ruling Council officials Sly Moore and Ars Dangor severed shipping lanes to Ghorman, a Colonies planet, which Mothma believed faced starvation. She supported fellow Senator Dhow's proposal to send a fact-finding mission to "prove" that the Ghorman people were merely "requesting their basic rights," but it received little attention from her colleagues, who had called for Imperial decree to handle the situation.

On the same day, Luthen Rael's successful heist on Aldhani provided the rebellion with 80 million credits, and the Empire enacted the Imperial Emergency Act and the Public Order Resentencing Directive (PORD), which strengthened the powers of the Imperial Military and Security Bureau to facilitate harsh crackdowns on any act deemed criminal. Senator Mothma condemned the directive as a "march towards complete unchallenged authority," which the Senate debated before ultimately passing the legislation. Cassian Andor and Karis Nemik were among the rebels who participated in the Aldhani heist. Nemik, appreciative of Andor's mercenary involvement, authored a manifesto, "The Trail of Political Consciousness," which championed freedom as a "pure" ideal that spontaneously arose against the Empire's fragile tyranny, denouncing it as "the mask of fear." Although Andor enjoyed a vacation on Niamos to avoid detection by Imperial authorities, the Empire's reach extended to him. A shoretrooper arrested Andor on a public beach because he was constantly "looking around" and "sweating" as if he had been running. The local courthouse sentenced Andor to six years of prison labor on various fabricated charges, including "civil disruption," "anti-Imperial speech," "fleeing the scene of anti-Imperial activity," and "attempted damage to Imperial property."

Andor was imprisoned at the Narkina 5 Imperial Prison Complex, where guards, empowered by the passage of PORD, increasingly brutalized prisoners while forcing them to manufacture modular parts that contributed to the highly secretive Imperial superweapon under Project Stardust. Andor and his fellow inmates discovered that prisoners who completed their sentences were not released, but simply transferred to another level of the facility. They organized a revolt in which floor manager Kino Loy urged the prisoners to support each other during their escape. Cassian Andor escaped the Empire's unjust criminal justice system only to learn that his mother, Maarva Carassi Andor, a prominent figure in civil society on his homeworld of Ferrix, had died.

Andor returned home for the funeral, which Imperial authorities permitted to proceed, having recently established a direct military occupation after replacing the Preox-Morlana corporation's civil control of Ferrix's star system. During the procession, Ferrixians listened to Maarva's recorded speech, in which she encouraged her people to fight the "disease" perpetuated by the Imperial "bastards." The strength of feeling for Maarva and the community's freedom inspired the citizens to attack the surrounding Imperial armed forces. The uprising undermined the ISB's efforts to capture Cassian Andor and the occupying force's purpose, leading the rebel to join Luthen Rael's spy network. Rael also collaborated with Saw Gerrera, despite considering the Partisan leader an anarchist driven by desperation, while Gerrera dismissed various rebel groups as "separatist" or "neo-republican" and criticized Mothma for her passivity.

Leia Organa, the Princess of Alderaan, joined the Empire's Apprentice Legislature in 3 BBY. By that time, only forty worlds still sent junior representatives to the program due to the Senate's diminishing influence, but Princess Leia found allies such as Harp Allor of Chandrila and Amilyn Holdo of Gatalenta. The princess had been working as her father's aide in the Senate and learned from her mother, Queen Breha Organa, who not only raised her but also mentored other young people such as Evaan Verlaine as Alderaan's Minister of Education. The young legislator discovered her parents' underground democracy movement when she located Bail Organa's rebel base on Crait. She dedicated herself to humanitarian diplomacy, including a visit to Naboo's moon of Onoam to deliver safety equipment to striking Onoam miners.

Early in the Empire's reign, Saché, Padmé Amidala's handmaiden, had joined Naboo's legislative assembly due to her heroism during the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo and was a leading candidate to succeed Sio Bibble as the world's governor. However, democracy was undermined when Quarsh Panaka was appointed Naboo's Moff. Under the Empire, the Gungan people were systematically evicted and detained, fleeing to their underwater cities. Onoam miners informed Leia Organa that they could not accept her safety equipment because their Imperial overseers would simply seize and sell it for personal gain. Organa met with Moff Panaka and Queen Dalné to discuss the issue, and Panaka was assassinated by Saw Gerrera's Partisans immediately afterward. Organa was surprised but hoped that Dalné could serve as Naboo's true queen for a few days or weeks while the Empire worked to re-establish control. The assassination of Panaka caused division between Gerrera and key figures in the burgeoning rebel movement, including Bail Organa, who believed that the Moff might have been open to future collaboration and that the Partisans needed to be controlled.

After discovering that the Empire had forcibly displaced the entire population of Arreyel to build factories and collectively punished Chasmeene by poisoning the planet's farmland, Organa entrusted the information to Senator Mon Mothma, her future mentor. Organa later personally evacuated a rebel base alongside Amilyn Holdo and ultimately decided to join her parents' anti-Imperial alliance. She was elected as Alderaan's senator after her father stepped down, becoming the legislature's youngest member while continuing her humanitarian efforts.

The Ghorman Massacre, which the Empire perpetrated in 2 BBY, proved to be the breaking point for Mon Mothma. This event, where hundreds, possibly thousands, of peaceful protestors were killed, led Mothma to conclude she could no longer defend people's rights from within the Senate. Consequently, Mothma denounced the Emperor's "tyranny" in a HoloNet broadcast. Labeled a traitor and pursued by Thrawn's 7th Fleet, Mothma escaped aboard the Ghost, the Spectres' vessel, and sought refuge on Dantooine. From there, in a HoloNet speech, Mothma resigned from the Senate and urged the galaxy to unite against the Imperial regime to "restore our Republic." Her appeal resonated with various rebel factions, leading to the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

The Rebellion, a movement dedicated to reinstating galactic democracy, initiated the Galactic Civil War against the Empire through covert operations. Within the Alliance Civil Government, Mothma fostered open discussion and dissent in the cabinet, which, along with military leaders, participated in Alliance High Command meetings at a hidden fortress located on the Outer Rim moon Yavin 4. Internal divisions plagued the movement, particularly concerning Saw Gerrera and his Partisans. The Empire's Tanivos Divo branded Gerrera a "terrorist" for breaching the Alderaan Convention by torturing prisoners. After Saw Gerrera and the Spectres discovered the Empire's genocide against the Geonosians, the rebels obtained images of the poison canisters used. While Bail Organa doubted the Senate's receptiveness, he believed the evidence could galvanize support from other star systems. The Alliance later severed ties with Gerrera's group due to their brutal tactics and targeting of civilians, actions that Mothma considered violations of the Ruusan Armistice and unjustifiable even in wartime.

The Spectres aided the Rebellion in acquiring a prototype "blockade buster" starfighter designed by the renowned engineer Quarrie. Quarrie subsequently joined the crew of Admiral Ackbar's rebel flagship, the star cruiser Home One, along with the Freemakers, a family of mechanics. Building upon the prototype, Senator Bail Organa convinced Slayn & Korpil to produce the formidable B-wing starfighter for the rebel cause. Additionally, the Spectres assisted their member Sabine Wren in defending her people on Mandalore, which was also under Imperial occupation.

Wren observed that the popularity of Mandalorian cubism and its murals depicting ancient Mandalorian crusaders slaying Jedi had reemerged during the Clone Wars. She expressed disapproval of how this imagery, originally intended to condemn war, had been repurposed to incite violence. As both a rebel and a Mandalorian of Clan Wren, Wren defended her family, played a role in ousting Imperial Viceroy Gar Saxon and his brother Tiber Saxon, and, alongside Lady Bo-Katan Kryze, destroyed the anti-Mandalorian weapon that she herself had created during her time at the Imperial Academy. Ultimately, the Spectres liberated Lothal from Imperial control, and Thrawn was exiled elsewhere.

Nineteen years after the Empire's inception, the regime finalized Project Stardust: the construction of the planet-destroying Death Star superweapon, which was tested on the Holy City of the Mid Rim moon Jedha. To prevent defections to the Rebellion, the Senate was informed that a mining accident had caused the city's destruction, but the Alliance confirmed the existence of the Empire's "ultimate weapon." Consequently, the rebels aimed to capture the project's scientific leader, Galen Erso, to expose the Empire's secret in a Senate hearing, but instead, they killed him. Despite the suffering that resistance against the Empire had inflicted upon her, Jyn Erso came to realize that her father, Galen, had been compelled to work for the Empire and had lived with the hope of aiding her, his "stardust," by planting a secret weakpoint in the Death Star.

Alliance High Command was divided on whether to infiltrate the Imperial research installation on Scarif to secure the Death Star plans, with senators like Tynnra Pamlo of Taris expressing reluctance to escalate the war against the Empire due to concerns for their people. Following a prolonged debate with Mon Mothma, Senator Pamlo journeyed to Coruscant to publicly denounce the Death Star, resign from her position, and implore the Rebellion to disband. A group of rebel volunteers, led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, also departed Yavin 4. Under the code name Rogue One, they defied Alliance High Command by infiltrating Scarif independently and subsequently received support from Admiral Raddus' Alliance Fleet, initiating open warfare against the Empire.

Overseeing the Death Star's completion, Grand Moff Tarkin commanded the battle station to obliterate Scarif's base and the surrounding area, encompassing both rebels and Imperials. However, through the sacrifice of Rogue One and a significant portion of Raddus' fleet, Senator Leia Organa escaped the battle with the plans. Despite her diplomatic immunity as a senator, Darth Vader tracked and attacked the Alderaanian princess' cruiser, capturing her for interrogation after discovering that the Death Star plans had been transmitted to Tatooine. When Imperial officer Daine Jir cautioned Vader that news of Princess Leia's detention could "generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the Senate," the Sith Lord ordered that the Alderaanian ship's destruction be attributed to an accident.

Following the Death Star's completion, Palpatine officially dissolved the Senate and transferred direct control of Imperial territories to his regional governors. During a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of the Imperial Military aboard the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin proclaimed the act as the elimination of the last vestige of the Republic. The meeting included leaders such as Chief Cassio Tagge of the Imperial Army, Yularen of the Security Bureau, and Darth Vader. The Empire had transitioned into a stratocracy governed by the Tarkin Doctrine, which emphasized military rule through fear. Tagge expressed shock at the Senate's dissolution, believing that the legislature, despite its challenges, provided necessary bureaucratic obstacles to deter dissent.

Andressa Divo and the ISB had been monitoring Bail and Leia Organa, uncovering evidence of the Alderaanians' connections to the Rebellion. With Princess Leia detained aboard the new battle station as a rebel, Tarkin demonstrated its full firepower on Alderaan, where billions of beings, including Bail Organa and Tanivos Divo, were present, obliterating the planet. Tarkin believed that galaxy-wide fear of the Death Star would suppress any opposition.

When Princess Leia escaped with the assistance of Obi-Wan Kenobi and his crew to Yavin 4, the station pursued them. Rebel pilots then prepared a daring assault on the Death Star based on the stolen schematics. Mon Mothma decided to travel to Coruscant to surrender to the Empire if Yavin 4 was destroyed, willing to publicly denounce the Alliance and her life's work in the hope of preventing other worlds from suffering the Empire's wrath. However, at the Battle of Yavin, Tarkin and many of the Joint Chiefs perished aboard the Death Star when rebel pilot Luke Skywalker, guided by the Force, destroyed it. Mothma reflected that as news of hope spread throughout the galaxy, more young rebels, unfamiliar with democracy, regret, or love, would join the revolution and die under her command.

Princess Leia later collaborated with fellow Alderaanian Evaan Verlaine to unite survivors of Alderaan's destruction. The assembled Alderaan Flotilla was attacked by an Imperial Star Destroyer over the Inner Rim world Espirion, which had a diverse population, including Alder-Espirions led by Beon Beonel, descendants of Alderaanian humans and the native Espirion species. Inspired by the princess' assertion that "Alderaan survives" as long as its values and voices of wisdom, creativity, and hope endure, the people destroyed the Star Destroyer before joining the Alderaan Flotilla. Expecting the united Alderaanians to find a new home while she returned to the Rebel Alliance, Organa endorsed Verlaine's candidacy for Alderaan's princess in a fair election.

While the Heroes of Yavin were pursued by the Imperial "Scar Squadron," the rebels were briefly stranded on Hubin and encountered Clan Markona. The clan lived largely in isolation, paying tithes to the Empire, which left them undisturbed due to Hubin's limited resources. The clan leader had witnessed the collapse of democracy and retired after assisting Imperial forces, believing that the distinction between the end of the Republic and the Empire's rise was blurred. Although the Markona were initially content with their isolation, the rebel heroes' defiance inspired them to join the fight against the Empire. As Scar Squadron continued to combat rebels on other worlds, they realized that the Empire had already lost the battle for hearts and minds; stormtroopers were no longer celebrated as heroes, and children instead emulated the Heroes of Yavin. Fearing that they would be remembered as villains rather than heroic "defenders of law and order," Scar Squadron began to massacre civilians.

Conversely, the Rebel Alliance's "Twilight Company" actively recruited ordinary civilians who shared the rebel movement's ideals of freedom and democracy on worlds where they fought the Empire, despite official Alliance policy prohibiting the practice. Despite the harsh realities of war, young cadets joining the company hoped to save people as heroes of democracy. To counter the Empire's accusations that her rebels were anarchists and terrorists seeking to destroy the galaxy, Mothma drafted the Declaration of Rebellion, drawing upon legal language. The declaration acknowledged the need for a "Galactic Government" with authority over all beings, who must relinquish "certain rights and freedoms" to ensure harmony. Such "power and right to rule" stemmed from "the consent of the governed," and "free beings" possessed the "unalienable right" and "duty" to alter a government with a sustained history of "willfully and malignantly" violating their rights.

The Alliance condemned the Empire's abuses, including the dissolution of the Senate; a policy of human-centric speciesism and genocide; the replacement of member worlds' elected leaders with moffs and governors; the imposition of taxes "without the consent of those taxed;" the application of legal punishments, such as imprisonment and the death penalty, without trial; the "unlawful" seizure of "land and property;" and excessive military expansion for the "sole purpose" of oppression. Rejecting "any Imperial law contrary to the rights of free beings," the members of the Rebel Alliance pledged their property, honor, and lives to overthrow the Emperor and his Empire and "make forever free all beings in the galaxy."

Despite significant losses to the Empire at the Battles of Mako-Ta and Hoth, the Rebellion continued to expand under the leadership of Alliance High Command. Imperial military abuses against citizens outside the Rebel Alliance also escalated. Faced with organized local resistance, Moff Gideon oversaw the near-total genocide of Mandalore. When riots erupted on Milvayne—which Imperial propaganda had promoted as an ideal world, heavily policed by the local authority without a visible Imperial presence—minister Pitina Mar-Mas Voor suggested that "I daresay Milvayne will be back on track" if the Empire imposed "three years of martial law and a few well-placed bombardments." So concerned was Voor for the Empire's public image that she plotted to overthrow the "unlovable" Emperor; ironically, her plot was leaked to the HoloNet before the Empire censored it and executed her.

Both the Empire and the Rebellion struggled with the chaos of the criminal underworld, including the Syndicate War initiated by Crimson Dawn. Criminal organizations vied for the Emperor's favor based on rumors that he was ending the Empire's informal agreement with the Hutt Clan under Jabba. Lady Qi'ra failed to overthrow the Imperial regime in her syndicate's war against the Sith, but the Rebellion continued to grow and learned that the Empire was constructing a second Death Star thanks to Crimson Dawn. The scoundrel Kay Vess sought a life of freedom by taking on assignments for competing syndicates, ultimately helping the rebels thwart the Imperial Security Bureau's infiltration of the criminal underworld and obtain a codex of ISB files. HoloNet viewers witnessed a rebel attack on an Empire Day parade, where Alliance forces were careful to avoid civilian casualties, followed by rebel starships damaging a colossal statue of the Emperor near Coruscant's Monument Plaza.

The Alderaan Flotilla was later attacked by the late Wilhuff Tarkin's protégée, Ellian Zahra. With support from Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa reconciled her responsibilities as a princess, senator, and general. After allowing Zahra to escape and—when she insisted on her obsession to exact vengeance against Organa—ordering the rebel fleet to kill Zahra instead. Thus relieved of the imminent threat and her sense of guilt over the Death Star's destruction of Alderaan, Organa spoke with Beon Beonel of the Alderaan Flotilla. She learnt that the Alderaanians had voted to disband the fleet: they wanted to find new places to call home and live in the wider galaxy, rather than narrow themselves to a singular identity as surviving refugees. While she dedicated herself to the war against the Empire and wished to fight on to prevent the return of tyranny, Organa also wanted a future in which she lived fully "with purpose in peace" and chose to focus on rescuing her lover, Han Solo, from Jabba the Hutt before comitting to battle against Death Star II.

Bothan spies confirmed that the battle station was being assembled in the Endor system, prompting Organa to lead Operation Yellow Moon to divert Imperial forces in the distant Corva sector while the Alliance Fleet gathered in the Sullust system. Organa led Nien Nunb, Antrot, Kidi Aleri, and Lokmarcha under the guise of a recruitment mission, but with potential recruits' lives at risk, she had herself and her team risk their own lives to ensure others' safety; she believed that the rebels fought not only for the anti-Imperial cause and duty but for each other, with love as an even more powerful force. During the rebel rendezvous over Sullust, Tomasso of the Spice Runners of Kijimi informed Mon Mothma that the Emperor and his ruling coterie were aboard the new Death Star. Unbeknownst to the rebels, the Emperor was luring them toward his best and well-prepared forces, hoping to turn Luke Skywalker into his new apprentice.

At the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the rebels formed an alliance with the local Ewoks and together they defeated the Imperial forces. Simultaneously, Luke Skywalker affirmed his identity as a Jedi and awakened his father's conscience. In an act of self-sacrifice for his son, Anakin turned against his Sith master and killed the Emperor. News of the Emperor's demise and the Rebellion's discovery and destruction of the second Death Star sparked spontaneous uprisings across Imperial worlds, with civil war erupting on Coruscant as Imperials deserted the military en masse. Loyal Imperial forces implemented the Emperor's Contingency, following his posthumous directive to initiate Operation: Cinder—the devastation of select worlds, regardless of their affiliation with the Empire or the value of their resources. The genocide of billions triggered a second wave of Imperial desertions. Meanwhile, the late Emperor's protégé Gallius Rax swiftly consolidated the majority of the Empire's military strength under Grand Admiral Rae Sloane's Shadow Council, secretly planning a final confrontation on the Inner Rim world Jakku. In accordance with the Emperor's wishes, Rax intended to both crush rebel forces and eliminate an empire that had failed its Emperor.

Among the worlds targeted for Operation: Cinder was the Emperor's homeworld of Naboo. Although Naboo's monarchy had become largely ceremonial, Queen Sosha Soruna and Governor Donta Gesset joined Leia Organa and other rebels in repelling Imperial forces over Naboo twenty days after the Battle of Endor. As the Rebel Alliance reorganized itself as the New Republic, Naboo became a member of the new democratic state. Mon Mothma served as the Chancellor of the New Republic, revitalizing democracy with the restoration of the Galactic Senate on Chandrila. Mothma's public relations representative, Olia Choko, was giving an interview when she was struck by a fruit thrown by Geeska Dotalo. The disgruntled citizen spoke of his homeworld, Gan Moradir, being plagued by chaos and famine due to the war, and Choko encouraged Dotalo to serve as his world's representative in the Senate. Choko then reprimanded a nearby New Republic officer for parading captured Imperial soldiers, asserting that the New Republic should not emulate the Empire's demeaning actions; she believed that mistakes were inevitable in a democracy, which relied on listening to and learning from everyone to survive and thrive.

During his "Iron Blockade" over the Anoat sector, the rogue Moff Ubrik Adelhard contacted the criminal underworld through the Spice Runners of Kijimi, who were willing to exacerbate chaos for their own gain. Adelhard hired assassins to eliminate prospective senators, while the Sith-worshipping Acolytes of the Beyond emerged on Taris and recruited disillusioned youths. The Acolytes instigated civil unrest on Corellia, destroying speeders, attacking Peace and Security officers, looting shops, and assaulting pedestrians. They subsequently attacked New Republic soldiers establishing aid outposts on worlds such as Devaron and targeted leaders like Leia Organa. Both she and his brother reflected that the fanatics had no understanding of the Force, murdering people to steal dark side relics simply out of their obsessive fascination for the Sith and later as terror agents of Moff Adelhard.

Caern Adan, an officer within New Republic Intelligence, felt uneasy regarding the vulnerabilities in the fledgling government's national security. These weaknesses stemmed from terrorist bombings and precise assaults by starfighter groups like the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, known as "Shadow Wing." With support from General Hera Syndulla, Adan established a dedicated task force focused on Shadow Wing: Alphabet Squadron. This group was led by Yrica Quell, a former Shadow Wing pilot who had participated in the genocide of Nacronis during Operation: Cinder. During the war within the Cerberon system, the local religious group called the Children of the Empty Sun suffered from bombings by both the Empire and the Republic. Their leader proclaimed that both factions were "oppressors," stating the New Republic was different "in its words, not its deeds." This group was convinced that "peace through bureaucracy" was unattainable and only their specific interpretation of the Force could deliver "true peace." Upon discovering the truth about Quell's actions on Nacronis, the pilot Chass na Chadic sarcastically mused that the New Republic was likely corrupt enough to knowingly enlist war criminals.

To hasten the Empire's downfall, the New Republic Senate approved the construction of three additional Starhawk-class battleships, supplementing the existing prototype Starhawk, to match the firepower of Imperial capital ships, which had lost control of Kuat Drive Yards in 5 ABY. Chancellor Mothma instructed New Republic forces to avoid engaging Imperial troops occupying Kashyyyk in anticipation of upcoming peace talks with the Empire. Defying Mothma's orders, Leia Organa spearheaded rebel veterans in the liberation of Kashyyyk and the enslaved Wookiees on their homeworld before the talks failed due to Imperial sabotage. This act briefly ostracized her politically.

Once his preparations were complete, Gallius Rax intentionally revealed his forces' location to the New Republic, prompting a narrow Senate vote in favor of deploying the military to Jakku. At the Battle of Jakku, Adelhard intended for his coalition to eliminate both Imperial and Republic forces. However, the Spice Runners of Kijimi, growing suspicious of Adelhard's increasing power, aided the Republic through their underworld connections. Eleodie Maracavanya's pirate crew aboard the Super Star Destroyer Liberty's Misrule attacked the Imperials, while the Kijimi Spice Runners targeted Adelhard's forces directly. Commodore Kyrsta Agate's Starhawk was instrumental in destroying the Imperial Super Star Destroyer Ravager, securing a New Republic victory.

Within a year, the signing of the Galactic Concordance brought an end to the Galactic Civil War, resulting in the incorporation of significant portions of the remaining Imperial territories into the New Republic. Some traditionally conservative worlds within the inner systems' Imperial remnant also surrendered, remaining independent of the New Republic under the terms of the Galactic Concordance. However, this remnant soon disintegrated due to internal divisions. A report prepared for the Committee of Democratic Implementation emphasized that the New Republic's focus should extend beyond enacting new laws to fostering a public understanding of justice and establishing a system where laws are applied consistently and fairly. Certain worlds, like Ryloth, chose to remain neutral and not join the New Republic, preserving their hard-won independence. The Narquois people initiated legal action against their Neimoidian neighbors, seeking compensation for centuries of serfdom, leading to an unprecedented number of claims being processed by New Republic courts. Through periodic elections, the government relocated its capital among member worlds, appeasing outlying systems that had previously seceded from the Republic leading up to the Empire's rise.

Chancellor Mothma championed the Military Disarmament Act preceding the Battle of Jakku, arguing that galactic democracy "is not in need of defense" but rather "people are." Her proposal involved reducing the New Republic Defense Force to ten percent of its size and reallocating resources to train local militaries within member worlds once the war concluded. Control over the military shifted from the Chancellor's office to New Republic High Command. In retrospect, following the First Order conflict, the historian Beaumont Kin suggested that the Republic was premature in its demilitarization efforts. The intention behind demilitarization was to enable star systems and sectors to maintain their own defense forces and form coalitions as needed, but it ultimately weakened the Republic, which maintained a defense fleet but lacked a formal military structure by 7 ABY. Leia Organa compared the fledgling democracy to a teenager, where each new crisis felt unprecedented. She spearheaded politically unpopular campaigns advocating for the Republic's rearmament.

The New Republic initiated a de-Imperialization process, expediting the return of former Imperial civil servants deemed low-value and low-risk to essential administrative and bureaucratic roles within the new government. Ex-Imperials who had committed minor criminal offenses were gradually released, subject to restrictions on weapon ownership and voting rights, which were eventually lifted once they were considered to pose no further threat. The New Republic Amnesty Program focused on rehabilitating former Imperials on Coruscant using droid counselors, while the Reconciliation Project aimed to foster healing and closure by pairing former Imperials with citizens who had suffered under the previous regime. The educational systems in some worlds also incorporated the memoir of Alexsandr Kallus, a former ISB agent and Alliance intelligence officer, offering perspectives from both sides of the conflict.

Under the Duchess and former Imperial Captain Bombardier, the royal family of Plazir-15 transformed itself into an elective monarchy presiding over a direct democracy following the Empire's fall. Plazir-15's charter emphasized the world's commitment to pacifism and pluralism, with citizens directly participating in decision-making and opting for independence from the New Republic. Around 9 ABY, an announcement on Plazir-15's domed city's public address system declared it as the only remaining direct democracy in the Outer Rim. The society embraced droids, who constituted the majority of the city's workforce, allowing organic beings to enjoy comfortable lives. Helgait, the human security chief and a long-time supporter of Count Dooku and his vision of "democracy," sabotaged some of the droids' Nepenthé lubricants to instigate chaos within the city. However, Mandalorians Bo-Katan Kryze and Din Djarin intervened and stopped him. In prior decades, the Separatist Droid Army's advancement and the Empire's promotion of prejudice had intensified anti-droid sentiments, although the age of Rebellion inspired droid uprisings demanding freedom and equality. Even prominent human rebels treated droids as family members, despite a brief galaxy-wide droid plague between Crimson Dawn's war against the Empire and the Battle of Endor, and the New Republic encouraged greater acceptance between organic and mechanical beings.

To protect the child Grogu from Imperial warlord Moff Gideon and his forces, Din Djarin collaborated with Marshal Carasynthia Dune of the New Republic. At her Mandalorian friend's urging, Dune bypassed protocol to release convict Migs Mayfeld. The former Imperial infiltrated the clandestine Imperial refinery on Morak alongside Djarin, transporting explosive rhydonium fuel to the site. There, Mayfeld encountered his former commanding officer, Valin Hess, from Operation: Cinder. Disgusted by Hess's callous disregard for the thousands of civilian casualties and the deaths of Mayfeld's fellow soldiers during their last operation on Burnin Konn, Mayfeld assassinated Hess and destroyed the refinery, while Djarin obtained information regarding Gideon's cruiser.

Following the capture of Gideon and his cruiser, several of his former Imperial personnel were admitted into the New Republic's Amnesty Program. Dr. Penn Pershing, a cloning specialist, was among the scientists employed by the New Republic on Coruscant. However, his parole droid informed him that the Coruscant Accords had since outlawed cloning. After escaping from New Republic custody, Moff Gideon managed to coordinate with his remaining forces within the Republic and communicate with the Shadow Council of other Imperial Remnants. Gideon amassed his forces on Mandalore, seeking to create an army utilizing research into cloning, the Force, and Mandalorian technology. However, a united diaspora of warriors rallying behind Bo-Katan Kryze ousted the warlord's forces from their homeworld.

Around the same period, the Santhe Corporation's Corellian shipyards were repurposed by the New Republic to dismantle Imperial Star Destroyers and salvage valuable components for the New Republic Defense Fleet. According to Regional Supervisor Myn Weaver, other parts were sold to the shipyard's investors to generate revenue for Republic reconstruction initiatives. However, Weaver and the shipyard workers were secretly Imperial loyalists who smuggled the hyperdrive cores to Morgan Elsbeth, an ally of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Elsbeth utilized the cores to construct a hyperspace ring that transported Thrawn from his exile to Dathomir, the witches' homeworld. The ensuing military campaign was classified by the New Republic.

New Republic General Hera Syndulla briefed Chancellor Mothma and the Senate Oversight Committee regarding her intervention at the Corellia shipyard and cautioned about the potential threat of Thrawn's return. However, Senator Hamato Xiono opposed Syndulla's request for assistance. Defying the committee's denial of permission for further investigation, Syndulla and Captain Carson Teva led a squadron of ships to the hyperspace ring's place of assembly, where two of Teva's pilots perished in a collision. A New Republic detachment retrieved Syndulla and Teva's squadron, and the general was summoned before the Senate Defense Council. During the hearing, chaired by the Chancellor, Senator Xiono criticized General Syndulla, asserting that her rebellious behavior was inappropriate for an established government like the New Republic. When Captain Teva cited Moff Gideon as an example of the danger posed by Imperial remnant leaders, Senator Xiono insisted that Gideon acted independently. Although Xiono sought to refer Syndulla to a court-martial, C-3PO interrupted the proceedings, relaying Senator Leia Organa's fabricated story that she had authorized Syndulla's mission without knowledge of the Oversight Committee's prior disapproval.

Not every galactic resident embraced the return to democracy. The First Order, a fascist junta aiming to resurrect the Empire's perceived glory after concealing itself in the Unknown Regions, comprised a select few Imperial loyalists and Gallius Rax's child soldiers who survived the Battle of Jakku as part of the late Emperor's Contingency. The Order fell under the control of Snoke, a clandestine creation of Darth Sidious' Sith Eternal cult on Exegol, and exploited the New Republic's demilitarization under Chancellor Mothma to develop a military more technologically advanced than that of the Old Empire.

Despite the New Republic's restrictions on arms manufacturing, major arms corporations like Sienar Fleet Systems and Kuat Drive Yards established subsidiaries, such as Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems and Kuat-Entralla Drive Yards, operating outside New Republic jurisdiction to supply the First Order. The First Order abducted children to indoctrinate and train them for its stormtrooper program as part of Project Resurrection, which eventually came under the supervision of General Armitage Hux and Captain Phasma. The Order specifically targeted rebel veterans, including Lando Calrissian, whose daughter was abducted in 15 ABY. Jinata Security collaborated with the Order on Project Resurrection within the Core Worlds' Jinata system, where the planet Vardos was controlled by Jinata Security's leader, Protectorate Gleb.

Senator Leia Organa discovered that the crime lord Rinnrivin Di, whose cartel raided trade routes near Ryloth, received funding from the Amaxine warriors, who were, in turn, First Order agents. Frustrated by the Senate's reluctance to act against the First Order's growing incursions and outraged by the public revelation that Darth Vader was her father, Organa resigned from her Senate position to establish a paramilitary organization called the Resistance in 28 ABY. The Senate remained paralyzed by political deadlock between the Centrist faction, advocating for governance by a strong, centralized executive power, and Organa's Populist faction. However, in 29 ABY, a majority of systems aligned with the Centrist movement seceded from the New Republic and openly joined the First Order, disillusioned by the Republic government's lack of unity and the subsequent breakdown of essential services. Unlike the Old Republic Senate under Palpatine's Chancellorship, the New Republic Senate chose not to oppose the departure of the dissenting systems, welcoming the end of the political gridlock.

Cold War tensions arose as the First Order encroached upon the neutral [Trans-Hydian Borderlands](/article/trans-hydian_borderlands] situated between New Republic and First Order territories. Instead of heeding Leia Organa's warnings regarding the First Order's military build-up, Chancellor Lanever Villecham promoted New Republic trade with the neutral systems within the Trans-Hydian Borderlands. Meanwhile, the Senate tolerated the Resistance's activities, but the Senate Intelligence Committee dismissed evidence of the First Order's activities as insignificant and unworthy of action. In 31 ABY, Poe Dameron and other New Republic pilots from Rapier Squadron joined the Resistance. They had been informed by their superior officer that the First Order posed no significant threat following a failed attempt to prevent the Order from hijacking a freighter, during which they lost a fellow pilot.

Leia Organa later tasked Dameron and his colleagues with intercepting Erudo Ro-Kiintor, a New Republic senator from the Centrist faction who had blocked motions to sanction the First Order and increase funding for New Republic forces. The Resistance discovered that the First Order had been funneling substantial sums of money to Ro-Kiintor through the Corporate Sector Authority, disguised via proxy companies. Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo of the Resistance further gathered evidence indicating that the New Republic Defense Force was deliberately failing to act regarding the First Order's expansion. Indeed, the New Republic merely voiced opposition to the First Order's blockade of the Otomok system, accepting the Order's claim that it was an internal matter. The Order extracted ore from [Hays Minor](/article/hays_minor] in the Otomok system, tested weapons on the world, and abducted its children to augment the stormtrooper ranks.

In 34 ABY, Resistance spy Vi Moradi investigated the new stormtrooper project and encountered "Cardinal," who oversaw the training of young children. This stormtrooper leader believed that the Republican system of government was "doomed to fail" because sentient beings were incapable of pursuing rational long-term self-interest. He believed it was the First Order's mission to resolve the Republic's "mess" by eliminating "diplomats and lobbyists who don't represent real people with real problems" and "bringing equality to all." Cardinal later became disillusioned with the Order after witnessing the brutal nature of Captain Phasma and was rescued by Moradi. The Resistance subsequently placed him on a "deprogramming protocol" in the forests of Cerea, designed to rehabilitate individuals brainwashed by First Order indoctrination.

Despite New Republic regulations on military equipment that prevented newer Koensayr Y-wing models from carrying ion cannons and bomber ordnance launchers, the Resistance acquired these vessels and modified them to better combat First Order forces. Vice Admiral Holdo led two squadrons of Slayn & Korpil MG-100 StarFortress SF-17 heavy bombers on a campaign against the First Order's pirate proxies in the Borderlands' Cassander sector without directly engaging the Order's forces in 34 ABY.

New Republic Command later sent pilots Kazuda Xiono, Mia Gabon, and Hugh Sion to deliver clandestine intelligence to Commander Poe Dameron of the Resistance. They were directly attacked by Major Elrik Vonreg of the First Order, but Xiono successfully delivered the information to Dameron, and they and Leia Organa discovered that the First Order was planning a massive assault on the Republic. General Organa dispatched her envoy, Korr Sella, to warn the Republic Senate on Hosnian Prime, where she met Chancellor Villecham.

However, the entire Hosnian system, which housed the New Republic capital and the majority of its fleet, was obliterated by the First Order using a single strike from their Unknown Regions superweapon, Starkiller Base. Although the Resistance destroyed Starkiller Base shortly thereafter, the Order proceeded to conquer much of the galaxy under the command of zealous young officers such as the technologist General Armitage Hux. Embracing Neo-Imperialism, they reduced the main Resistance fleet to a single starship—the Millennium Falcon—during a brutal war, with former Imperial leaders approving of the resurgence of fascism and militarism.

The Resistance was composed of more than just veterans of the Rebel Alliance; it also included individuals who forged bonds of friendship while confronting the aggression of the First Order. Among them were Rey, an aspiring Jedi; Finn, a stormtrooper who defected; Poe Dameron, the leader of pilots; and Rose Tico, a skilled mechanic. Despite the Resistance's desperate pleas for assistance sent to allies throughout the galaxy, no one answered their call. The galaxy's wealthiest individuals, residing in opulent resorts like Canto Bight on Cantonica, sought to profit from the conflict by funding both the First Order and the Resistance's war efforts. Luke Skywalker, disillusioned with the Jedi's legacy of hypocrisy, arrogance, and failure in preventing the rise of Darth Sidious, Vader, and Kylo Ren of the First Order, had retreated to exile on Ahch-To. However, Rey's persistence and Yoda's counsel to impart his Jedi knowledge inspired Skywalker to overcome his apathy. Kylo Ren, confronted by Rey, persisted in rejecting his family's love, embracing his self-perception as a dark side "monster" and realizing his desire to succeed Snoke as the First Order's Supreme Leader. Nevertheless, tales of valor, such as Amilyn Holdo's self-sacrificing maneuver against the First Order's fleet and Luke Skywalker's confrontation with the First Order Army on Crait, ignited hope among rebels throughout the galaxy.

Ikkrukk was one of the countless planets invaded by the First Order. Although the Resistance achieved victory against the First Order forces that were laying waste to Grail City, Prime Minister Grist hesitated to offer further support, fearing retaliation from the First Order. Some members of her government cabinet even harbored sympathy for the new regime, hoping that occupation would bring financial benefits to the city. Later, the Ryloth Defense Authority militia provided temporary refuge to the Resistance, but Chancellor Drelomon's Rylothian government worried that the Resistance's presence would attract the destructive fury of the First Order. On Akiva, the first planet in the Outer Rim to join the New Republic, voters ousted the incumbent governor in a snap election, replacing him with a merchant affiliated with the First Order.

Ignoring the Resistance's presence, the First Order blockaded Ryloth, demanding tributes. General Organa assured Yendor Brethen, the RDA leader, that she would not ask him to fight against his reluctant government or people. However, the government betrayed the RDA, whose base was attacked by the First Order. Despite this, the Resistance had used the time to regroup and evacuate. The group also obtained a list of rebel veterans from First Order-occupied Corellia, intending to recruit them to their cause. The Tah'Nuhna civilization, which had maintained neutrality in conflicts from the Hundred-Year Darkness to the rise and fall of the Empire, was later annihilated by the First Order for briefly sheltering the Resistance.

Provoked by the collective punishment inflicted upon the Tah'Nuhna, the Resistance sought the support of the Mon Cala fleet, imploring King Ech-Char to back their cause. Ech-Char, prioritizing the safety of his people from First Order reprisal, declined to support the Resistance. He also presided over the Mon Cala court, with the backing of isolationist Quarren advisors, ordering General Organa's group to depart from the world. Upon the arrival of the First Order, the veteran Quarren leader Nossor Ri made the ultimate sacrifice, enabling the Resistance to escape the planet alongside Aftab Ackbar's Mon Cala fleet.

Subsequently, the Resistance found a new base on the remote world of Ajan Kloss. While Kylo Ren's First Order struggled to reconcile its rigid militarism with mysticism and its young vanguard with its veteran ex-Imperial leaders, the tyrannical junta adhered to Palpatine's plans when the Emperor was resurrected in 35 ABY. His resurrection was made possible by the cloning endeavors of his Sith cultists on Exegol, which also housed hundreds of planet-destroying Xyston-class Star Destroyers and supporting forces, all fueled by resources secretly supplied by Sith loyalists within the executive boards of Sienar-Jaemus and Kuat-Entralla. In an attempt to merge his cultists' efforts with the First Order to establish a "Final Order," the resurrected Emperor found unwavering support from Allegiant General Enric Pryde, a "High Human" ideologue. Kylo Ren divulged to Rey that she was a descendant of Palpatine, but as a Jedi student under Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker, she acknowledged her susceptibility to the dark side's temptations while rejecting the weight of her lineage. Instead, she reaffirmed her connection to her friends and the Skywalkers, acknowledging the "good" she believed still resided in Kylo Ren and her duty as a Jedi.

Inspired by Rey and sensing the love of his dying mother, Ren chose to embrace his Jedi identity as Ben Solo. Poe Dameron also confronted his complex past as a spice runner in Kijimi City, with his idealism inspiring his former associate and spice runner leader Zorii Bliss to assist in opposing the First Order. The Resistance also garnered support from Company 77 after Finn established a connection with the group. Like him, they were former stormtroopers who had deserted the First Order after refusing to obey an order to fire on civilians and were willing to fight to end the regime's oppression. The Resistance faced overwhelming odds as it attempted to prevent the Sith Star Destroyers from launching on Exegol. However, Lando Calrissian rallied a fleet of volunteer citizens from across the galaxy who answered the call of the late Leia Organa to aid the Resistance.

The Citizens' Fleet included unaffiliated fringers and criminals from the chaotic Kijimi City, who valued their individual independence from politics or any authority and had taken the New Republic's limited ability to enforce interstellar law for granted. The draconian First Order awakened them from their apathy. Despite Kijimi's occupation and destruction under Pryde's command, the people of Kijimi were joined by individuals from other places, including the royal-born Wilsa Teshlo, a member of the matriarchal Veiled Sorority pirate fleet; the Caracara Squadron mercenaries, who provided defense services to star systems; Kid Malmash of the Nebular Kelpie, a transporter of political refugees; and the residents of the Colossus, a supertanker that served as home to the Resistance spy Kazuda Xiono and was pursued by the First Order. These individuals joined Rey at the Battle of Exegol, and together, they vanquished the Sith once and for all. The galaxy's people, finally free, then initiated spontaneous uprisings throughout the galaxy, dismantling the First Order in the hope of building a new future of harmony.

Democracy exists as a real-world concept. Supported in name by the United Nations following its establishment in 1945, democracy is typically linked to systems of governance found in liberal democracies, which include the protection of individual human rights, adherence to the rule of law, the division of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and the conduct of free and fair elections. George Lucas and his fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola collaborated on Apocalypse Now, a film examining their democracy, the United States of America, within the context of America's then-ongoing war in Vietnam. Coppola directed Apocalypse Now, released in 1979, drawing inspiration from the serious tone of Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness. This diverged from Lucas's desire to create a satire akin to Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Consequently, Lucas concentrated on his personal fantasy project, drafting a preliminary version of Star Wars in 1974 after the success of his 1973 film American Graffiti. His draft depicted the Empire as "America ten years from now," at a "turning point" between "fascism or revolution." "Nixonian gangsters"—a reference to Richard Nixon, who served as President of the United States from 1969 to August 1974—would have assassinated the Emperor and manipulated an election to seize power, instigating "race riots" and supporting rebel groups before establishing a "'total control' police state," initially welcomed by the public due to frustration with widespread crime, only to exploit them later with excessive taxes and utility and transport costs. Lucas's initial theatrical release, 1971's THX 1138, unfolds in a dystopian, consumer-driven society under the stringent control of robotic police. His earlier short films encompassed abstract tone poems, a montage addressing American race riots, and a narrative film centered on freedom, set against the backdrop of the Berlin Wall in East Germany.

Following the release of THX, George Lucas came to the realization that "being pessimistic doesn't seem to accomplish anything." Instead, he sought to create a lighthearted film that would resonate with the public and "regenerate optimism" among young people who felt apathetic about the perceived decline of America. He aimed to produce a feature film with a larger budget, incorporating soundstages, art directors, and production designers, while also fulfilling the mythologizing role of American Western genre films, which he had grown up watching. Lucas believed that America lacked contemporary folklore, which he considered essential for young people based on his studies in anthropology. He saw it as a means of imparting morals, such as "you don't shoot people in the back," and allowing people to "have the first shot" rather than shooting first. Specifically, the filmmaker aspired to create a "fairytale" for "twelve-year-olds," given the "dark" times of the Vietnam War and the American civil rights movement. He drew inspiration from John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and John Coleman Burroughs, James George Frazer's The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, and various fantasy books in January 1974. Lucas also drew inspiration from a range of films while writing Star Wars, including Japanese period dramas by Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927), Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and Howard Hawks' Air Force (1943).

Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, initially titled simply Star Wars, was released on May 25, 1977 in the United States and marked the beginning of the original trilogy, featuring a group of protagonists battling an "evil Empire." Lucas capitalized on the strong sense of good and evil that emerged in the aftermath of 1939–1945's World War II, a conflict between the Allied Powers—the "good guys," including the United States, who established the United Nations after the war—and the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. US President Jimmy Carter, along with Rosalynn Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Jehan Sadat, viewed Star Wars on February 4, 1978 at Camp David, where peace accords between Egypt and Israel were eventually signed in September. Dissatisfied with writing and burdened by directing, George Lucas later enlisted Irvin Kershner to direct Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, impressed by Kershner's rapid completion of the 1977 film Raid on Entebbe. The Star Wars sequel was released in May 1980. While the Galactic Empire draws visual inspiration from Nazi Germany, the fictional regime was inspired by what Lucas refers to as the "American Empire," which pursued imperialist dominance under the guise of liberating other countries. However, the director aimed to avoid explicitly addressing culturally "incendiary" political and emotional issues about which people would already hold preconceived opinions. Lucas considered this a unifying aspect of science fiction and historical fiction, although he preferred to categorize Star Wars as a form of "fantasy," "space opera," or "mythology."

Instead, Lucas sought to explore the underlying psychological themes that have been present throughout human mythologies across historical societies and religions. Drawing not only from his interest in narrative literature, popular fiction, and experimental cinema but also influenced by his Christian Methodist upbringing and Buddhist ideas, Lucas was further informed by the writings of anthropologist Carlos Castaneda and comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell in creating Star Wars as an exploration of what he consistently referred to throughout the decades as "psychological archaeology." Lucas became friends with Campbell in 1984, inviting him to Skywalker Ranch to deliver talks, informing Star Wars composer John Williams and many others about the crucial role of mythologies like Star Wars in the development of societies from the Neolithic Revolution to the Space Age. The ranch also hosted journalist Bill Moyers' 1988 documentary television series The Power of Myth with Campbell and another TV interview with Lucas about the mythology of Star Wars in 1999, exploring the role of storytelling and themes of the mythological "hero's journey."

Similar to Lucas's background in documentary filmmaking and his preference for its spontaneous nature, the concept of the Force in Star Wars represented the filmmaker's attempt to distill real-world religions. He believed that the core of all religions is compassionate love and the ability to "let go" rather than succumb to greed, using the Force as a narrative and symbolic device in Star Wars, which he considered a "soap opera" about families at its core. Having recently completed the prequel trilogy in 2005, George Lucas asserted in an interview that year that most stories are intended for adolescents because they possess a more open mind than adults. In his view, narrative art is akin to raising children, as "old stories" about "timeless" themes need to be retold to new generations in ways that resonate with them. Children need reassurance that they are part of a community that shares both "good" and "bad" aspects of human nature, and they need to be taught the consequences of acting on some of those notions, rather than learning everything "the hard way." In a conversation with journalist Hank Stuever in 2015, Lucas defined art as the communication of emotions: "you get a feeling about something, you get knowledge about something, but you don't know why […] you gotta go see it." Speaking with his friend and journalist Charlie Rose in 2014, Lucas believed that the social significance of narrative art had diminished in the 20th century. As part of Lucas's efforts to improve education, he decided to dedicate much of his retirement from Lucasfilm to working on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, scheduled to open in Chicago in 2025.

In a conversation with Sinologist Orville Schell in March 1999, Lucas described himself as a "cynical optimist." He associated himself with the concept of Victorian era culture and romanticism within the context of a "Midwestern," "warm, fuzzy kind of reality." Accordingly, he intended his films, although contemporized and personalized in "my time" of the 1950s to 1970s, to be "psychological archaeology" exploring from a humanist perspective "ageless" and "universal" themes (excluding "the only other two universal themes" of violence and sex) regarding the dissonance he observed between humanity's intellectual and technological advancements and humanity's possession of the "same" emotional driving forces across diverse societies over a period spanning as long as "3,000 years." Defining humanity, Lucas stated that the distinguishing characteristic of humans as intelligent animals is the biological adaptability of the human brain, which can "exchange information" through, for example, narrative art. In his view, humanity's survival or extinction hinges on whether such information is accurate, based on the premise of Star Wars that "we are both good and evil, and we have a choice."

Speaking with Ty Burr in 2005, Lucas also expressed his belief that "God gave us a brain"—"the only thing we have to survive"—and, in line with the Darwinist theory of evolution, humans have a "duty" to utilize their brains and scientific inquiry to comprehend reality. He was particularly interested in the emerging field of neuro-anthropology "to see our genes affect how we build our social systems, how we develop our belief systems" for society and culture, similar to the psychological themes of stories from "4,000 years" ago that he incorporated into the modern intellectual context of Star Wars; humanity's emotional foundations have remained unchanged, although the intellectual contexts have evolved.

Lucas also commented on how mythologies explore "good" and "evil" in a televised conversation in 2002 with Carrie Fisher, who portrayed Princess Leia Organa, adding that the "hero's journey" of Anakin Skywalker would involve him becoming "a bad person" through "very good intentions." They also alluded to a prevalent sentiment in the US at the time supporting "vengeance" for the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, which ignited the "war on terror," and how Lucas had originally titled 1983's Episode VI "Revenge of the Jedi" instead of "Return of the Jedi." In his conversation with Schell, Lucas remarked that "one of the weird and more interesting things about Star Wars" was its widespread acceptance across "many cultures" worldwide. Despite modest expectations during the production of the first film, it achieved significant financial success, and Lucas retained creative and marketing control with distributor 20th Century Fox. The entrepreneur fully owned and directed his own franchise company, Lucasfilm. He criticized corporations, particularly the media in the United States, for being driven solely by the pursuit of greater profits, which, in his view, leads people to become "disgusted" with their own culture and government and cynical about "everything."

Speaking of a Frenchman that he encountered who professed to watch Star Wars on a weekly basis back in 1997, LucasArts's chief executive officer Jack Sorensen remarked: "I'm not sure if I should put this in writing, but I genuinely believe that Star Wars functions as the shared mythology of a secular world. It illustrates the way people aspire to live. While people generally perceive politics as dishonest, particularly in Europe compared to [the United States], they still possess an underlying desire to believe in something untainted and honorable. That essence is Star Wars." Sorensen also found it noteworthy that the franchise's literary aspects, which seemed "uncommercial" and "secondary to the purely cinematic aspects" during Lucas's filmmaking process, had evolved into "the very attributes that now seem to drive its commercial appeal."

In his discussion with Schell, Lucas expressed his view that the American media tends to "consume" information without considering "the broader cultural context," including those who threaten to dismantle established institutions. The filmmaker posited that a challenge inherent in democracy is its susceptibility to catering to vocal, irrational, and self-serving factions, which hinders society's ability to reach consensus and ultimately leads to dysfunction. The director underscored his conviction that societies cannot thrive without a shared belief system. He also conceded that his concept of the media upholding their social responsibilities has been taken to the extreme of censorship in Communist regimes such as the Soviet Union, which dissolved in 1991, and the People's Republic of China. In a 2015 conversation with Charlie Rose, Lucas still voiced his appreciation for the creative liberties afforded to filmmakers he knew in Soviet Russia, who could produce any film as long as it remained within political boundaries, whereas American filmmakers were constrained by studios prioritizing profitability in every production. Lucas detested being dictated to and held immense respect for Soviet experimental cinema, pioneered by Sergei Eisenstein in the 1920s. In a 2006 interview with journalist Richard Corliss, Lucas conveyed his desire to experiment with moving pictures post-Star Wars, stating that his "heart" resonated with the non-mainstream, European government-funded films of Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini, and he viewed his Star Wars earnings as his "personal government subsidy."

During a 2012 television appearance with Rose, Lucas stated that he was raised in 1960s San Francisco and has consistently been a "very passionate patriot" of both America and democracy. While democracy and capitalism have evolved in tandem within Western European societies, Lucas's vision of democracy diverges from a "capitalist democracy" where affluent individuals could "purchase the government" and stifle political discourse on what serves the greater good. He argued that the United States had long been mired in such corruption, resulting in dysfunctional governments akin to the Republic depicted in Star Wars. Lucas acknowledged that greed stems from "human nature" and attributed "most of the blame" to the media's societal focus. The "sensationalism" and "oversimplified answers" presented by news media distract from "the truth," thereby fostering a more polarized society where "people live in fear." When Rose challenged him to leverage his platform to "engage in public dialogue," Lucas responded that he could simply create films that entertain viewers and prompt them to reflect on the values of cooperation and compassion "that we supposedly champion." Lucas also criticized the "winner-take-all" mentality prevalent in legal, financial, and political systems during the interview, advocating instead for a compassionate society. When questioned whether such an ideal constitutes "democracy" or "socialism," Lucas deemed it "common sense."

In a 1995 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Lucas echoed similar sentiments regarding a more "mature" and "rational" society where the survival of humanity is paramount and education should play a more significant role in assisting human brains to adapt to the inherent dichotomy of "human nature," which oscillates between being "self-absorbed," likened to cancer cells, and being a "communal creature," analogous to typical cells that collaborate to sustain the larger organism. In the same vein, Lucas emphasized that humans working in unison should be regarded as an essential "way of life" and also beneficial for "business," rather than merely "public service" to be undertaken after achieving success. For Lucas, human cooperation and America's "pursuit of happiness" mirror his and his filmmaker colleagues' collaborative efforts, supporting one's family, friends, and even strangers, the survival of hunter-gatherer communities, the dawn of agriculture, and the evolution of cities and societies throughout human history.

In a conversation with Rose about the themes of Star Wars in relation to the 2004 US presidential election of that year, Lucas voiced his belief that the "current predicament" stemmed in part from inadequate study of the humanities and interdisciplinary learning. He described the humanities as the exploration of "why," complementing the study of sciences as the exploration of "how," citing storytellers like William Shakespeare and the examination of the emotional and psychological motivations behind historical conquerors such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler. Attributing modern education's tendency to rely on rote memorization to an assembly line mentality born out of the Industrial Revolution, Lucas also mentioned his efforts to establish an educational foundation to foster "emotional intelligence" through engaging in discussions and literature reminiscent of the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle's methods of tutelage and hands-on learning akin to cobblers' apprenticeships. Lucas's opening statement on his Edutopia website proclaims that "education is the cornerstone of our democracy."

According to a 2024 interview with the broadcaster Deutsche Welle, George Lucas envisioned Star Wars as a single film chronicling the adventures of Luke Skywalker and the tragic fate of Anakin Skywalker. The prequel trilogy, as it materialized, originated as a backstory that was limited by the visual effects capabilities of the 1970s, and the central narrative of the Star Wars saga evolved into three separate films. Lucas informed TIME magazine in 2002 that this original trilogy narrates the story of "Princess Leia and her comrades" awakening to the realization that the Republic was in fact the Empire, a "deceptive" democracy that they were compelled to resist.

The original novelization of Star Wars, released in 1976, featured an excerpt from the "First Saga" of the "Journal of the Whills," which detailed the Republic's downfall under the "wise governance of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights," employing the allegory of a tree that could "withstand any external assault" but "rotted from within." With the aid of "massive commercial entities," Senator Palpatine was elected "President of the Republic" on the promise of reuniting disaffected citizens and "restoring the remembered glory of the Republic," yet he "was controlled by the very aides and sycophants he had appointed to high office," with "governors and bureaucrats" overseeing a "reign of terror" under "the Imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor." The excerpt concludes by introducing a group of rebels seeking to reinstate the Old Republic and "cast the light of new truth" across an oppressed galaxy. In the nascent drafts of his film script, Lucas intended Star Wars to resemble a saga documented by an observer known as the Whills, a plot device that later evolved into the Force. During a story conference in 1981 with Richard Marquand, Howard Kazanjian, and Lawrence Kasdan, Lucas elucidated the tragedy of Darth Vader, explaining that because the Emperor had been elected, "nobody realized" he was malevolent, and that his name was "Richard M. Nixon."

In a 2012 conversation with Hollywood director James Cameron, Lucas also drew parallels between the rebels and Ewoks' struggle against the technologically advanced Imperial forces in Return of the Jedi and two instances of "underdogs" confronting an "empire": firstly, the "Viet Cong" who triumphed over American forces in the Vietnam War, and secondly, the founders of the United States who defeated the "English Empire" in America during the late 18th century. During a court appearance in Calgary, Canada in 1990 regarding a copyright claim pertaining to the Ewoks concept, Lucas testified that he was also influenced by the Coast Miwok people, indigenous to Marin County, California, whose population inhabited the land surrounding Skywalker Ranch until it was devastated by disease and displacement brought by European colonists, akin to other Native American societies.

Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace from 1999 marked the beginning of the prequel trilogy, in which Lucas aimed to explore how democracies could erode and transform into dictatorships through democratic processes rather than through coups or rebellions, mirroring the narrative of a virtuous individual like Anakin Skywalker becoming a villain—Darth Vader. Upon the release of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones in 2002, TIME magazine writers questioned Lucas about the political undertones in Star Wars, noting Obi-Wan Kenobi's cynicism regarding political campaign financing as an echo of US Senator John McCain's involvement in campaign financing reform; Padmé Amidala's idealistic plea in a deleted Senate scene, denouncing the Military Creation Bill as "a declaration of war," with violence breeding more violence and ultimately costing everyone their freedom, echoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's appeals for the plight of the people of Palestine; Anakin Skywalker's realpolitik advocating for a strong leader to resolve the Senate's divisions mirroring Roman Senator Brutus in his assassination of Julius Caesar. Lucas responded that he identified as a proponent of liberal democratic ideals and emphasized the continuity between his films by highlighting the roles of Princess Leia and the Jedi in the original trilogy to overthrow the Emperor. In 2005, actor Ian McDiarmid characterized the character of Palpatine/Darth Sidious as "completely irredeemable," driven solely by the accumulation and exercise of power for its own sake, lacking the psychological complexity of Shakespearean characters. McDiarmid instead likened Palpatine to the Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, who was on trial for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

While American politics during the Vietnam War served as a catalyst for writing Star Wars, Lucas cited three historical parallels that he believed illustrated the cyclical nature of Palpatine's ascent to power: firstly, Julius Caesar in the Roman Republic—Caesar was voted "dictator perpetuo" and subsequently assassinated by fellow senators in 44 BC, leading to the rise of Augustus and his Roman Empire, which dominated Europe, north Africa, and west Asia for centuries. Secondly, Napoleon Bonaparte in revolutionary France—following the collapse of the ancien régime in 1789, legislators sanctioned his coup as "Premier consul" in 1799 and then appointed himself "Emperor," with Bonapartist France dominating 19th century Europe. Thirdly, Adolf Hitler in the German Weimar Republic—the German Empire collapsed in 1918 following World War I, and the Republic elected Hitler's Nazi Party into parliament and government in 1933, with Chancellor Hitler enacting emergency powers in the same year, ultimately leading to his rise as "führer," the Holocaust genocide of Jewish people, and World War II until Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945.

In another deleted scene from Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku tells a captive Padmé Amidala that "the democratic process in the Republic is a sham" and the "incompetent" Chancellor had allowed the bureaucracy to become stronger and the Republic's "cult of greed" would eventually lose "any pretext of democracy and freedom." Amidala re-affirms her dedication to the Republic and calls Dooku's Separatists "not government that has been bought out by business" but "business becoming government!" The film's novelization, penned by R. A. Salvatore based on a script by Lucas, even includes Dooku informing the business leaders joining the Separatists that their alliance has an "absolute commitment to capitalism" regarding lowering taxation and tariffs, promising "complete free trade" by eventually abolishing "all trade barriers." Lucas opted to replace the scene with Dooku speaking to a captive Obi-Wan Kenobi instead, highlighting the irony of Dooku sharing most of the Jedi's view that the Senate is corrupt and ineffective, while also telling the truth about the Republic being controlled by Darth Sidious—yet Kenobi does not believe Dooku because the fallen Jedi asks him to join him in overthrowing Sidious and seizing power for themselves.

Tony Keen, in his 2012 work Star Wars and History, explored the saga's connections to the fall of the Roman Republic and compared Padmé Amidala's rejection of Anakin Skywalker's faith in a benevolent dictator and her belief in a democratic republic to the Roman politician Cicero, who criticized Julius Caesar's dictatorship, supported Caesar's heir Octavian against Mark Antony, and was condemned to death by Antony. The latter and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, waged war against Octavian as lovers until their deaths, allowing Octavian to rule as the first Roman emperor as Augustus. Although contemporaneous Roman records did not distinguish the "Republic" from "Empire," nor did contemporaneous records identify the "Weimar Republic" as a separate polity when the Nazis rose to power in Germany, Keen highlighted that Hitler used the Reichstag fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties, while Napoleon Bonaparte orchestrated a formal coronation of himself, similar to Palpatine's claim of a "Jedi plot" and declaration of the Galactic Empire.

Writing in the same book, Kevin S. Decker compared the charisma—and thus the ability to gain and maintain popular support as an apparent "political idealist"— of Count Dooku, whose Sith name was Darth Tyranus, to the ancient tyrants Kypselus of Corinth and Pisistratus of Athens in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, who both seized power by appealing to marginalized people; "demagogues," according to Aristotle. Decker further compared the Galactic Republic's first Chancellor, Tarsus Valorum—who originated in Star Wars Legends material but has since been introduced to the current canon—to Solon, who laid the foundation of democracy by breaking down ancient divisions and developing a rule of law. The author noted that, in contrast, the fall of Roman republican practices, as well as the Roman Empire, which had adopted Christianity given the enduring appeal of Jesus, left many European monarchies that sought Christian-based legitimacy and power deals among their royal courts.

Within this medieval context, Decker stated that the Sith Code—written by David Gaider as a Nazi-inspired perversion of the Jedi Code from Legends material, and both codes have since been introduced in the current canon—would instruct adherents to be a "manipulative courtier" of a monarch, yet Darth Sidious and Tarkin go beyond this framework, as the Italian Renaissance author Niccolò Machiavelli advised, obtaining power by being feared rather than loved, achieving effective means even at the cost of Christian virtues. Tarkin expressed disdain for the Jedi Code and implemented a rule of constant militarization and fear under the Empire, while Sidious used coercion and cruelty—much like Qin Shi Huang, the first of the Chinese emperors who ruled for over two thousand years until the Republican Revolution in 1912—though the Sith Lord did not follow Machiavelli's advice to refrain from indiscriminate cruelty and ultimately fails. Decker also added that the conquests of one man could only be enabled by the public, comparing Communist Russia and China's personality cults of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong to the Star Wars galaxy's "conditions of cultural decadence, political amoralism, and unrestrained, all-consuming commerce and industry" in the rise of the Empire; the moral leadership of Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and Leia Organa follow Machiavelli's praise for Aristotle, Cicero, and John of Salisbury's ideas and an ideal republic of a free constitution for citizens of virtue to advance the common good.

The Cultural Revolution instigated by Mao Zedong brought about widespread societal disruption in the People's Republic of China, also restricting Western cultural products, like the film Star Wars. This period of turmoil began to subside upon Mao's death in 1976. However, in 1977, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, published a critique of the original Star Wars movie, dismissing it as a fantastical illusion reflecting American discontent with reality. Beginning in 1978, Chinese authorities started to encourage the development of science fiction literature as a means of revitalizing scientific research, a policy that lasted until the campaign against "spiritual pollution", which included science fiction, in 1983.

While the prequel trilogy was distributed in China, gaining a Chinese fanbase for Star Wars, the original trilogy did not get an official theatrical release in Chinese cinemas until June of 2015. In the latter part of the 2010s, Lucasfilm briefly explored formal collaborations with Chinese businesses through Disney, resulting in projects like Shanghai Disneyland, the unsuccessful video game Star Wars: Galactic Conflict, and the web novel The Vow of Silver Dawn. Differing from mainland China, Star Wars was shown in Hong Kong, which was then a British colony. Hong Kong was involved in entrepôt trade between the West and Communist China and had a thriving plastics sector, manufacturing the first Star Wars action figures during the 1970s and 1980s for the British company Palitoy and the American company Kenner.

In May 1980, when meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Geng Biao, President Carter extended an invitation for Geng to view The Empire Strikes Back together with the first family. Carter informed the press that "Geng Bao was on the edge of his seat all the way through the movie. Fortunately, he did not ask me for any of the weapons he saw in the movie." They also discussed mutual worries regarding the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan and Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia, and they explored military collaboration as part of a developing relationship between the US and China. That same year, Chinese officials in Guangzhou City in Guangdong province, adjacent to Hong Kong, procured a copy of the 1977 Star Wars movie and invited the artist Song Feideng (宋飞等) to a private screening. He was commissioned to create a lianhuanhua picture book to promote scientific advancement in China. Song enjoyed the film and accepted payment for his work, which Zhou Jinzhuo (周金灼) adapted into written form. It sold quickly under the Guangzhou branch of the Popular Science Press (科学普及出版社). It was one of the few Star Wars materials available in mainland China, along with pirated videos and some broadcasts on local television stations during the late 1980s. Around the same period, manufacturing operations in Hong Kong started to relocate to Guangdong amidst China's economic reforms and the socioeconomic uncertainty surrounding the upcoming transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997.

In October 1980, in Changsha City of the Hunan province, located north of Guangdong, the local branch of the People's Press commissioned Star Wars novellas. The editor was veteran translator Tang Yinsun (唐荫荪), and the translators were Zhang Ruoheng (张若衡) and Chen Yuequan (陈月泉). They began by adapting Donald F. Glut's novelization of The Empire Strikes Back and then the original Star Wars with other staff. In October 1986, the publisher began printing its adaptation of Return of the Jedi, but its performance was poor. Consequently, it switched to publishing adaptations of the English erotic novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, which gained immense popularity but was banned on obscenity charges, resulting in sanctions for the publisher.

As local industries declined, Hong Kong shifted its focus to serving as a global financial hub, strategically positioned at the intersection of Western and Chinese influences. In his contribution to Star Wars and History, Michael Laver drew parallels between the nationalization of the Dutch and British East India Companies and the Galactic Empire's absorption of the Trade Federation, emphasizing that powerful commercial entities can outlive their usefulness to their respective imperial centers. Katrina Gulliver also noted in the same book that London, as the world's leading financial center and a hub of opportunity during the East India Company's peak, was seen as a modern counterpart to historical dominant cities such as Babylon, Jerusalem, and Rome. It developed technological and economic innovations suited for empire in conjunction with the widely influential Westminster model of parliamentary democracy. Gulliver further stated that London's preeminent status transitioned to New York and the United States in the early twentieth century, contrasting with the long-lasting dominance of Coruscant as the capital of the Star Wars galaxy and Republic.

Zooming further back in time and closer to Hong Kong, Laver's essay in Star Wars and History compares Tatooine and Cloud City, as ports on the galaxy's political and economic periphery, with southeastern Chinese ports like Amoy (Xiamen) and Canton (Guangzhou). These ports were geographically distant from China's capital, Beijing. Piracy flourished in southern China during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the seventeenth century, the pirate-admiral Zheng Zhilong and his family competed with the declining Ming and the emerging Qing dynasties of China—analogous to the fragile Galactic Republic—as well as Edo Japan and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Formosa (Taiwan), mirroring Lando Calrissian's roles as a pirate, the Baron Administrator of Cloud City, and a rebel general. Laver also drew a comparison between the Trade Federation's model of maintaining its own trade fleet and the VOC and the British East India Company as "states within a state" separate from the European metropole in the seventeenth century. Just as Viceroy Nute Gunray oversaw the blockade of Naboo, the VOC imposed numerous blockades on rival imperial powers such as Portugal and Spain in Goa, Macau, and Manila in southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the East India Company was commissioned in England as Spain lost its war in Europe, and the company lobbied Parliament to protect its trade monopoly in India, ultimately incorporating the land as the core of the British Empire.

According to Laver, the endemic corruption and "divide and conquer" strategies employed by the Dutch and British imperial powers also reflect the state of the Galactic Republic and the Trade Federation's failure, in the case of the Naboo and the Gungans, to dominate the populations separately. The author emphasized that, in terms of the socioeconomic and political ramifications of corporate barons' ruthless pursuit of profit, the Trade Federation's use of military force to advance economic interests most clearly mirrors the British imperialist companies' Opium Wars against Qing dynasty China. These wars forced the opium trade through Canton by beginning the first of many "unequal treaties" that, among other stipulations favoring British merchants' convenience of trade in 1842, resulted in the ceding of Hong Kong Island to Queen Victoria of Great Britain. A special set of Star Wars action figures commemorated the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China—under the Sino-British Joint Declaration registered at the United Nations—on July 1, 1997.

The fictional clone army, named the "Grand Army of the Republic," shares its name with the United States' Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of veterans who fought in the American Civil War against the secessionist slavery-based Confederate States. The Separatist state in the fictional universe was identified as the "Confederacy of Independent Systems" in Star Wars Legends material, a detail later confirmed in the 2010 "Sphere of Influence" episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, created by George Lucas. For the 2009 "Trespass" episode of The Clone Wars, which centered on the Pantorans' conflict with the Talz, voice actor Brian George drew on "some of the uglier voices of the South African apartheid era" that ended in the 1990s and the "venom and hatred that we used to hear on the news every night" for his performance as Chairman Chi Cho. George also compared his character's animosity to instances of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Darfur genocide between 2003 and 2005, and, tragically, many more.

Henry Gilroy wrote the 2009 Ryloth trilogy of The Clone Wars with Afghanistan in mind, particularly the Soviet invasion and the US's provision of weapons to the Afghan mujahideen to combat the Soviets. Some of the Afghans eventually fought American forces in another war that began in 2001 as part of the war on terror. The first and second episodes, "Storm Over Ryloth" and "Innocents of Ryloth," were partly inspired by battles of the Second World War. Gilroy drew inspiration from the French Revolution for the third episode, "Liberty on Ryloth," which also introduced Cham Syndulla. The character was altered from a Separatist agent deceiving his people to a freedom fighter to better fit the plot. Given George Lucas's insistence that Twi'leks speak with French accents, executive producer Dave Filoni likened him to the leader of the French Resistance during the Second World War. Catherine Taber, who voiced Numa in the second episode, believed that the history of the Twi'leks shared a cultural connection with the Irish people.

In the book Star Wars and History, Paul Horvath and Mark Higbee compared the economic foundation of the Star Wars Confederacy's leadership—battle droid manufacturers like the Trade Federation—with the economic foundation of the American Confederacy—cotton plantations dependent on enslaved labor. Economic interests, combined with political shifts—either the despotic Palpatine's ascension as Chancellor of the Republic in Star Wars or the anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln's election as President of the United States in 1860—contributed to the outbreak of civil war. The summary executions of Jedi mirrored the Confederate massacre at Fort Pillow of surrendering Black US soldiers. The Galactic Empire's promises of peace, particularly violated by the oppression of non-human species until the galaxy's liberation by the Rebel Alliance, were also compared with the post-Reconstruction decades of America's nadir of race relations and the struggle of modern American civil rights campaigners.

Paul Finkelmen wrote in Star Wars and History that slavery has existed in various forms throughout human history, from legal forced labor and concubinage in ancient Mesopotamia; descriptions in the Bible; and ancient Greece and Rome, where limited democratic enfranchisement existed, to transactional chattel slavery in the transatlantic slave trade; state institutions of serfdom, gulag systems, and concentration camps; and human trafficking in the modern era. Finkelmen compared slavery's role in separating affected family members with the emotional impact on Anakin Skywalker, who had to leave his still-enslaved mother behind on Tatooine at a young age, similar to the childhood of American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Anakin carried emotional scars that ultimately prevented him from fulfilling his duties as a Jedi. Finkelmen also compared Luke Skywalker's feeling of being held back by his family on Tatooine with Abraham Lincoln's restricted childhood. Although Tatooine, a world "beyond the line" of Western civilization where Padmé Amidala is shocked to find slavery despite the Republic's ban, and particularly Jabba's Palace, evoke Orientalist connotations of moral corruption and sexual exploitation in Mali, Ottoman, or Indian empires, Finkelmen added that Leia Organa's slaying of Jabba the Hutt echoes the Haitian Revolution in the 1790s, where the "slave" became the agent of their own destiny and massacred their "masters." Highlighting that enslavement is the first listed human rights violation in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the context of pan-European German extermination camps and slave labor battalions and pan-Asian Japanese internment camps and forced prostitution from the early 1930s to 1945, Finkelmen's analysis identified the clone troopers and stormtroopers as enslaved soldiers and brainwashed cult members, with mindless droid armies being the "ultimate slaves," enforcing pan-galactic bondage by certain despots over others.

While filming Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith in 2003—the final installment of the prequel trilogy, released in 2005—Natalie Portman, who played Padmé Amidala, stated that her character embodies "the true meaning of feminism in my understanding of it" by accessing "all the same things" while making her own decisions and leading many people while remaining steadfast to her values of compassion, democracy, and belief in humanity. In 2012's Star Wars and History, Janice Liedl compared Queen Amidala's struggle for her people's freedom to Queen Boudicca, who led the Celtic Britons' rebellion against the occupying Romans. Janice Liedl and Nancy R. Reagin added that women have been "integral to every modern revolution," likening the critical leadership roles of Princess Leia Organa and Ahsoka Tano—a protagonist of Star Wars: The Clone Wars—with actions of real-world women that could be considered "unfeminine," such as the teenage Joan of Arc leading the French to end the English Siege of Orléans in 1429; Charlotte Corday's assassination of the radical Jean-Paul Marat during the September 1792 massacres of the French Revolution; the Irish revolutionary Constance Markievicz's election to the UK Parliament in 1918 and the Irish Republic's first Dáil Éireann assembly in the following year; and Dora María Téllez's becoming a military leader and spokesperson of the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979.

Liedl and Reagin further noted that a hairstyle worn by women supporting the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920 helped inspire Princess Leia Organa's iconic hairstyle in A New Hope. The 1830 French Revolution painting Liberty Leading the People features a woman, Marianne, symbolizing France and liberty. Liedl further wrote that Padmé Amidala's funeral and the palpably "powerful influence" on those who shared her ideals of the Republic echoes the funeral of Hawaiian Queen Liliʻuokalani, associated with the indigenous culture of Hawaii following the islands' settlement by the United States. The historian also remarked that Princess Leia Organa's "hands-on role" reflects the leadership of Queens Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II during the Anglo-Spanish War and the Second World War, respectively. Feminism remains a pertinent theme in Star Wars films beyond George Lucas' time in Lucasfilm.

The Pacific Theater of the Second World War concluded in 1945 with Imperial Japan's unconditional surrender after the Allied Powers' invention of the atomic bomb and the US's two detonations over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Soviet Union's first nuclear bomb test in 1949, the Communist triumph in the Chinese Civil War later that year, and the Soviet launch of Sputnik in the Space Race in 1957 heightened fears that a nuclear arms race between the Soviet and American superpowers would result in mutually assured annihilation. This concern was reflected in American films such as Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which influenced George Lucas. Writing in 2012's Star Wars and History, Lori Maguire noted Lucas's dislike of US President Nixon. Despite the 1970s' détente with the Soviet Union led by Nixon and advisor Henry Kissinger, revelations about dishonesty regarding the Vietnam War during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency, Nixon's Watergate scandal, and secret bombings of Cambodia undermined public confidence in the US government. The Death Star in the original Star Wars trilogy resonated with the Cold War reality at the time.

When Ronald Reagan, the US President, proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a missile defense system based in space, in 1983, Senator Ted Kennedy derided it as a "Star Wars scheme", calling it "a trip wire for nuclear war" stemming from a "preposterous" romantic view of the American West. The media then popularized the nickname "Star Wars", despite Lucasfilm's request that news outlets refrain from doing so. Maguire pointed out that fear had been used as an effective tool in warfare, citing the bombing of Guernica in 1937 by fascist German and Italian forces to support Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. The Clone Wars Season Two episode "The Mandalore Plot" (2010) and the Season Five episodes "Shades of Reason" and "The Lawless" (2013) 2013 feature cubist murals depicting Mandalorians killing Jedi, drawing inspiration from Pablo Picasso's Guernica, a painting created in response to the bombing of the Basque town. Maguire also observed that fear could be employed to initiate conflicts, referencing the US and UK's assertions regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as justification for the 2003 invasion during the war on terror.

At the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, Lucas admitted that the prequel trilogy's narrative of democracy's downfall mirrors the United States' then-ongoing war in Iraq. According to journalist Maureen Dowd in 2009, Lucas further likened Anakin Skywalker to George W. Bush, who presided over the war as US President, and Emperor Palpatine, the mentor figure, to Bush's Vice President, Dick Cheney. However, in 2005, Lucas clarified that he had conceived the prequel story during the Vietnam War, expressing concerns about the Kennedy family and President Nixon, as well as his apprehension about the fragility of democracy in America. He believed that the inefficiency of politicians leads voters to elect charismatic "tyrants" who promise to "get the job done." In a 1999 interview with Schell, Lucas stated that "a benevolent despot is the ideal ruler" for "getting things done," but cautioned that "power corrupts" and only "a big human" can resist abusing power. William J. Astore, in his 2012 book Star Wars and History, argued that the United States was caught between the roles of benevolent Jedi—with some American units hailed as "Jedi" for their service in the wars against Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein—and imperialist Sith, considering the civilian casualties and collateral damage resulting from both the Iraq War and the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The conflict concluded with the disastrous American-led withdrawal and the subsequent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban regime in 2021.

Just as Lucas had conceived Star Wars to explore themes related to human societies without directly addressing issues on which audiences had already formed strong opinions, the filmmaker himself ironically grew disillusioned with Star Wars fans on the Internet who were constantly "yelling" about "what a terrible person you are" after developing their own preconceived notions about what Star Wars should be. Following Lucasfilm's release of the 2012 film Red Tails, which depicted the Tuskegee Airmen serving in World War II, George Lucas sold his company to The Walt Disney Company so that Lucasfilm could continue producing Star Wars while he could dedicate himself to experimental filmmaking outside the "white slaver" mainstream of the Hollywood industry, which he felt did not believe that films featuring Black people could be profitable outside the United States. Lucas had been planning to return to the independent filmmaking style of his college days since at least 2005.

Star Wars and History was published in late 2012, five years after George Lucas read Kevin S. Decker and Jason T. Eberl's Star Wars and Philosophy, which was published independently of Lucasfilm. He then asked Jonathan W. Rinzler, the author of The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film, to organize a similar collection of essays by relevant academics focusing on the historical influences on Star Wars. While the essays reflected the perspectives of their respective authors, they were based on ongoing communication with Rinzler, who acted as an intermediary with Lucas. Lucas provided a list of various subjects that "became the nucleus for all the essays" and excluded some that were more focused on political science for a potential future book. A 263-page unpublished book attributed to Lucasfilm and the Wiley publishing house, titled "Star Wars Politics" and dated April 15, 2013, is listed on Google Books.

In January 2013, the Obama Administration rejected a public petition with 34,435 signatures calling for the construction of a Death Star, citing concerns about budget deficits and stating that the administration "does not support blowing up planets." Instead, they highlighted the alternative US achievements and advancements in space-based science, technology, engineering, and math in both the public and private sectors. The Clone Wars Season Three episodes "Heroes on Both Sides" and "Pursuit of Peace" aired in 2010 and addressed banking deregulation at George Lucas' request. The production schedule of the television series meant they were written three years prior, in 2007, when the Global Financial Crisis occurred and laid the foundation for democratic backsliding worldwide.

Since George Lucas' departure from Lucasfilm, the company has been led by Kathleen Kennedy, a film producer who had worked closely with Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Kennedy encouraged Star Wars artists to infuse their work with personal meaning, emphasizing the genuine authenticity of Lucas and Spielberg's films, particularly Lucas' "increasing need to use politics" in the Star Wars prequels to express his ideas in response to real-world events. Kennedy valued the global reach that Disney provided for Lucasfilm, which allowed them to establish official connections in China and Russia during the 2010s.

The 501st Legion was established in 1997 as a Star Wars fan and volunteer organization dedicated to supporting charitable endeavors worldwide. Other similar groups include the Rebel Legion and the Mandalorian Mercs. Lily Meszaros, who portrayed the Jedi Council member Stass Allie in 2005's Revenge of the Sith, fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide to Australia. She founded the Rwandan Orphans Assistance Response to provide assistance to children in Rwanda, raising funds in part by signing Star Wars autographs.

In 2014, Disney and Lucasfilm launched the Star Wars: Force for Change initiative in collaboration with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions to support UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, during the production of the 2015 sequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. The campaign benefited the UNICEF Innovation Fund, which was established by Disney/Lucasfilm and the government of Denmark to support new Innovation Lab projects. Between May 21 and July 25, Star Wars fans were invited to contribute for a chance to appear in Episode VII, and the partnership raised over $4.2 million from 125 countries, in addition to Disney's $1 million donation. In 2016, UNICEF and Force for Change implemented the Myanmar Social Innovation Lab and a digital care protection system in Cambodia.

In April 2015, Lucasfilm's Force for Change was announced as a presenting sponsor with UNICEF USA for the UNICEF Kid Power program, which encouraged children in the US to be active and raise funds for nutrition programs for malnourished children worldwide. Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, participated in UNICEF's Kid Power program to share the organization's work in Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic with exclusive content for Rebels Season Three. In 2017, Force for Change raised funds for both UNICEF USA and the Starlight Children's Foundation. In the same year, the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF partnered with Disney for the city's first "Star Wars Run," raising funds for children globally. In 2018, UNICEF Hong Kong again collaborated with Force for Change, the 501st Legion fan group, and local businesses for a "Star Wars Dress Up Day" on May 4, Star Wars Day, featuring Star Wars merchandise in conjunction with marketing for the film Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was released on May 24.

During the Polaris Dawn spaceflight in September 2024, astronaut Sarah Gillis performed John Williams' violin solo of "Rey's Theme" in Earth's orbit, accompanied by orchestras in Brazil, Haiti, Sweden, Uganda, Boston and Los Angeles in the US, and Venezuela. This event was a collaboration between John Williams, SpaceX's Polaris Program, the El Sistema music-education program, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan crafted the narrative for The Force Awakens, utilizing the established Star Wars universe and characters as part of Lucas' overarching tale of hope set against a backdrop of cynicism following the Vietnam War. Abrams and Kasdan, the latter of whom also contributed to the scripts of the original trilogy, expanded upon the themes of "light versus dark" and good versus evil, rather than creating direct allegories to real-world geopolitical or social issues. However, Abrams acknowledged that the rise of the First Order against a benevolent New Republic could be seen as comparable to forces at play in the real world at the time. The Order itself emerged from story discussions that explored the hypothetical scenario of what might have occurred if the Nazis had all fled to and regrouped in Argentina.

Dave Filoni, commenting on the television series Star Wars Rebels, which aired from 2014 to 2018 with him as executive producer, discussed politics and evil as complex issues, drawing parallels between the real world's history of democracies collapsing into dictatorships and how a beautiful tree can rot from within. He applied this concept to Star Wars, suggesting that everyone is a pawn of Palpatine, "even without the Empire." Filoni stated that the core message of Star Wars lies in Luke Skywalker's example: "not to be of yourself but to be selfless," achieving enlightenment and inspiring others to act as well. A New Dawn, the first novel in the new canon continuity, was written by John Jackson Miller and published in September 2014 as a prequel to Rebels, which premiered in October. Miller likened the Star Wars galaxy's rapid increase in military production under the Empire within a twenty-year period to collectivization in the Soviet Union, which transformed a largely agrarian Russia and its conquered satellite nations into an industrial-military powerhouse at the cost of "over 20 million" lives during the interwar period. The author also drew on his studies of totalitarian governments in comparative politics to understand how the Empire adopts and transforms pre-existing Republic institutions. Miller further compared the development of the Empire's surveillance apparatus before Palpatine's time to how "surveillance of various kinds has gone on for decades, for centuries" under numerous governments and commercial entities in the real world, a phenomenon made more apparent by the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013.

The 2015 comic miniseries Star Wars: Shattered Empire was written by Greg Rucka to explore the immediate aftermath of the Empire's defeat in Return of the Jedi. Rucka researched propaganda and political turmoil in the Arab Spring uprisings of the early 2010s, the Soviet Bloc that collapsed in a wave of eastern European revolutions in 1989, and the totalitarian state of North Korea.

The 2016 novel Bloodline by Claudia Gray examines the political debate between the Centrists and Populists near the end of the New Republic Era. Gray, having watched the musical Hamilton while writing the novel, agreed with a reader's observation that Bloodline's politics mirrored the political debate between Alexander Hamilton's Federalists and Anti-Federalists over the ratification of the US Constitution, which clearly defined a federal government with specific central powers in 1787 and 1788. The 2016 reference title Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy by Pablo Hidalgo includes the Declaration of Rebellion, a document written by Mon Mothma on behalf of the Rebel Alliance, which originated in Paul Murphy's 1990 Star Wars Legends roleplaying book The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook. The text borrows phrases from the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776.

Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, clarified that the anthology film was written in mid-2014 when asked whether it was relevant to "recent political events" during its release in December 2016. Edwards also echoed Lucas' belief that storytelling reflects a "human condition" that remains constant throughout human history. He suggested that a "timeless" saga like Star Wars would always resonate with contemporary events, given his view that humanity is caught in a cycle of revolution against those in power who are perceived as corrupt. Felicity Jones, who played the heroine Jyn Erso, emphasized in an interview that the core of Star Wars films is rooted in characters' relationships—in Rogue One's case, the relationship between father and daughter. The filmmakers intended for viewers, regardless of gender, to identify with Jyn Erso as the main protagonist and want the characters to "succeed against the forces of evil." Jones also appreciated that Jyn Erso's focus on survival and her mission, rather than a sexualized appearance, aligned with her perspective on feminism.

In early November 2016, Chris Weitz, a writer for Rogue One, posted comments on Twitter criticizing Donald Trump following his victory in the 2016 US presidential election. He also added that the Empire in Star Wars is a "white supremacist (human) organization," which led to retaliatory online criticism. When Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked for comment at Rogue One's world premiere, he dismissed the media's "story" and asserted that the film makes no "political statements" whatsoever. Iger further stated that the company was proud of Rogue One's "diverse" casting, "and that is not a political statement, at all."

When journalist Steven W. Thrasher interviewed Riz Ahmed, who played Bodhi Rook in Rogue One, earlier in July, and asked him about diversity, the actor expressed his satisfaction that Lucasfilm was normalizing diversity in Star Wars. However, when asked about being known as the first Muslim Star Wars actor and the negative reaction against John Boyega's leading role as a "black stormtrooper," Ahmed described the situation as "strange." He said, "I can understand when John Boyega bristled at that kind of description, because it's putting you back in a pigeonhole." Ahmed stated that much of life as an artist "is to transcend the labels people impose on you," but audiences could also feel a strong connection with another person's appearance, identity, and life experience. Regarding discussions about how art might be "political," the interviewer noted that the label was often applied to "artists of color," but Ahmed suggested that it was more related to class distinctions in the British context. He believed that the interviewer, as an American, might be more focused on racial divisions compared to himself, a Briton who is more aware of class divisions. In February 2017, Ahmed raised funds to aid refugees from war-torn Syria with signed Star Wars memorabilia, in light of the fall of Aleppo to the Russian- and Iranian-backed Assad regime in late 2016.

Rian Johnson, director of the December 2017 sequel film, Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, was asked whether the film was influenced by political polarization during Donald Trump's presidency. Johnson similarly stated that Star Wars movies were never consciously "conceived as a political allegory." He believed that audiences apply Star Wars to political situations of the day because Lucas' stories possess a universal and archetypal power. Laura Dern said that when she and Johnson first discussed her role as Amilyn Holdo, the director spoke earnestly about the power of Star Wars to explore the complexity of being human, making sense of light and dark and struggles with family through characters and the "hero's journey." Dern was particularly pleased that Holdo has a feminine physicality and said that her character reflected "a true challenge in feminism. Are we going to lead and be who we are as women in our femininity? Or are we going to dress up in a boy's clothes to do the boy's job? I think we're waking up to what we want feminism to look like."

Both Laura Dern and Oscar Isaac, who played Poe Dameron, mentioned in an interview that they had heard from Rian Johnson about their characters' depiction in Star Wars media beyond the films and were vaguely aware of Holdo being a "very sexual character"—the September 2017 Claudia Gray novel Leia, Princess of Alderaan had mentioned that Holdo was attracted to species and genders beyond just humanoid humans—and fan enthusiasm over whether Dameron could be an LGBT character. Isaac was glad that "people can see themselves in a hero" from a broad range of personal identities, including LGBT and Latino, even if the story doesn't necessarily solidify any particular interpretation.

In its coverage of The Last Jedi, Rolling Stone pointed out that symbols and images connected to Princess Leia Organa were frequently seen during the Women's March in January 2017. This march took place shortly after Carrie Fisher's passing and was a reaction to the perceived misogyny exhibited by then-newly inaugurated President Trump. Daisy Ridley, in a late 2017 interview with the magazine, characterized the Star Wars story as a "wonderful blend" of social commentary and "escapism, because there are creatures and there are people running around with fucking lasers and shit." Kelly Marie Tran, speaking with StarWars.com in 2022, expressed that her Last Jedi character, Rose Tico, mirrored her own upbringing. Tran's parents, survivors of the Vietnam War, were among the Vietnamese boat people who sought refuge in the United States. They endured hardships to support their family and initially opposed Tran's acting aspirations, deeming them unrealistic.

Following the July 2017 release of Christie Golden's novel Battlefront II: Inferno Squad, she commented in an interview that Star Wars had been shaped by the rise of mass media and the internet. Answering a question about moving past the simple morality of popular culture resulting from World War II, Golden, whose work explores characters from various factions including the Empire's Inferno Squad as a covert operation unit, observed that while society is "more polarized than ever," increased access to diverse perspectives makes it harder to "demonize people and make them one dimensional."

Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm, while promoting Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker (2019), echoed this sentiment, stating that the "sense of innocence" of the 1970s and the "black-and-white" worldview of World War II are gone. She suggested that modern storytelling reflects today's transformed society. Director J.J. Abrams drew a parallel between the First Order's origins and a hypothetical scenario where "the Argentine Nazis" united to continue their fascist agenda. The city of Kijimi, though a criminal hub, prohibited slavery and drew inspiration from Kurosawa films, as well as Paris under Nazi occupation and Michael Curtiz's 1942 film Casablanca, set in the Moroccan colony under Nazi-collaborationist French control. Abrams also shifted away from the nostalgia of The Force Awakens, focusing on how a new generation confronts the "debt that has come before," emphasizing "preserving a sense of freedom and not being one of the oppressed" rather than simply "restoring an old age."

In 2019, censors in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates removed a brief lesbian kiss from local versions of The Rise of Skywalker. On October 27, 2020, a week before the November 3 United States elections, the official Star Wars Twitter account shared an image of the word "VOTE"—depicted as a blue hologram with the Rebel Alliance emblem replacing the "O"—accompanied by the message "Make your voice heard." In 2023, Ian McDiarmid likened Palpatine to "a certain contemporary politician" because hearing "the word loser" was likely the worst thing either could experience.

The COVID-19 pandemic had worldwide repercussions into the 2020s. During a Black Lives Matter demonstration in London, United Kingdom, on June 3, 2020, John Boyega, who portrayed Finn in the sequel trilogy, spoke out against the racism faced by Black people, even in democratic societies. Lucasfilm voiced their support for Boyega's message on the same day. Three months later, Boyega publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Disney and the broader Hollywood industry's unequal treatment of people of color. He pointed out the disparity between the sequels' initial promotion and the decreased prominence of characters played by actors of color in The Last Jedi, suggesting that J.J. Abrams attempted to rectify Disney's shortcomings with his unexpected return to direct The Rise of Skywalker.

The premiere of Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge was initially set for June 3, 2020, but Ahmed Best, the producer and lead actor, announced a delay until June 10 due to the widespread civil unrest and violent reactions to George Floyd's murder by police in the US on May 25.

While the original trilogy found its way into China through unofficial channels following the Cultural Revolution, Lucasfilm officially partnered with Chinese companies via Disney for the release of the sequel trilogy in the late 2010s. In contrast to the original American posters for The Force Awakens and Hong Kong's bilingual Chinese-English posters, the mainland Chinese poster, released in January 2016, significantly minimized John Boyega's character and completely removed Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), as well as the non-human characters Chewbacca and Maz Kanata. Boyega mentioned in a 2018 interview that he learned about these alterations through social media but chose to focus on the fact that The Force Awakens would reach a vast audience and that he would have a significant presence in the film. The movie's release inspired Star Wars enthusiasts in mainland China, who have managed to establish substantial online fan communities and stay informed about US-based Star Wars news through sites like Wookieepedia.

When TIME magazine featured Taiwan's presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen on its cover in June 2015 with the headline "She could lead the only Chinese democracy," mainland Chinese state media censored the text and compared her image to that of Master Yoda. Tsai subsequently won the election. In 2018, the Taiwan Presidential Office hosted a May the Fourth celebration for Star Wars fans, where Vice President Chen Chien-jen stated: "If you all come in peace, I welcome you all as our guests. Today Master Yoda [President Tsai] is absent, but I quote one phrase from Yoda—'size matters not'. Taiwan is bigger than you think." Anson Chan, former Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, and activist Joshua Wong both likened the city's Police Force to Star Wars stormtroopers due to their "indiscriminate brutality" against peaceful young protesters during the 2014 and 2019–2020 protests. These comparisons reflected concerns about violations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the local constitution, and the promise of genuine democracy.

Star Wars: Galactic Conflict, a video game developed in China and approved by authorities between 2019 and 2020, was intended for distribution outside mainland China by a Taiwanese company through a Hong Kong subsidiary created in response to the trade war between China and the United States. However, the game was never released due to various irregularities. The official Chinese web-novel The Vow of Silver Dawn, released between 2020 and 2021, explored the Star Wars galaxy from a Chinese cultural perspective. One notable aspect of the web-novel is the Aakaash system, governed by a corrupt corporation that isolated itself from the Republic, used media to brainwash its citizens, enforced disappearances, and oppressed the dragon-like Loongren ethnic group.

A 2018 study published in the journal First Monday indicated that a significant portion of Twitter posts harassing Rian Johnson about The Last Jedi were characteristic of Russian Federation troll accounts. These accounts manipulated and exploited the politicization of popular culture discourse, particularly misogynistic and anti-gay alt-right beliefs, similar to the Gamergate harassment campaign of 2014 and Russia's interference in United States elections.

According to a 2015 English-language article by the Russian government's Russia Beyond media outlet, the Zebra youth television program in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) illegally aired dubbed clips of Star Wars in 1989, but the US Consulate General allowed Zebra to continue. Star Wars was officially released in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1990, and the Communist state dissolved the following year, largely replaced by the Russian Federation. The Russia Beyond article further noted that a 2001 episode of the satirical television series Kukly featured a puppet of "the recently elected president Vladimir Putin" playing Luke Skywalker, while a puppet of ex-president Boris Yeltsin played Obi-Wan Kenobi. The article omitted the fact that the broadcaster was taken over by the Russian regime that year.

Following Ukraine's Euromaidan revolution in 2014, Putin initiated Russia's war against Ukraine. In 2015, the Ukrainian city of Odesa repurposed a statue of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin, with sculptor Oleksandr Milov transforming the Communist dictator into Darth Vader. The city also planned to install a Wi-Fi router in the ex-Lenin's head, enabling him to communicate with other Sith.

Star Wars: The High Republic, a multimedia project set during a golden age of the Jedi and the Galactic Republic, launched on January 5, 2021, after several months of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project began with works primarily by authors Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel José Older, and Justina Ireland. Starlight Beacon, a key location in Phase I of the project, which concluded in 2022, is "very closely tied" to New York's World Trade Center and the collapse of the Twin Towers during the September 11 attacks of 2001. Phase III, launched in 2023, features the Stormwall, which was similarly inspired by the Berlin Wall. Justina Ireland, who served in the US army during 9/11, had fond childhood memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the supposed end of communism in November 1989. Ireland also noted that her fellow authors had experienced similar "touchstone historical moments" that influenced their writing.

When Tony Gilroy, the showrunner for Andor, was questioned about political parallels in the 2022 television series' season one that November, he responded that Andor was created without specific contemporary political themes in mind, drawing on historical revolutions as spontaneous events to drive the characters' stories. He stated, "whatever contemporary resonance it has is usually in the eye of the beholder. Oppression is oppression." In another interview that November, Gilroy emphasized that his personal political views were "absolutely not important" to the series' themes and that Star Wars naturally lends itself to historical comparisons. Regarding the "age old question" of "who's a terrorist and who's a freedom fighter," Gilroy wanted each character to "speak for themselves" to make their motivations believable. He related the concept of controversial revolutionaries to historical nation-building movements, citing Thomas Jefferson of the United States and Nelson Mandela of South Africa, as well as the revolutions of France, Haiti, Russia and the Soviet Union, and the nation-building of Israel.

Gilroy also compared Andor's character, Luthen Rael, to a start-up company founder. Earlier in September, he described Mon Mothma, a senator and future leader of the Rebel Alliance, as a "figurehead of liberal democracy that will fail," drawing a comparison to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in another interview that same month. In 2012's Star Wars and History, Janice Liedl likened Mon Mothma to Countess Matilda of Tuscany, who separated her husband from her possessions and brokered a temporary peace between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, whom she supported. In February 2017, Chuck Wendig, the author of The Aftermath Trilogy (2015–2017), which detailed Mon Mothma's leadership of the nascent New Republic, characterized her as a "fairly centrist leader," highlighting the challenges of effective governance. Fiona Shaw, who played Maarva Andor, stated in an interview released in August 2022 that Gilroy's story offered a "scurrilous" and "social-realist" perspective on "the Trumpian world" that was "exploding in different places right now," with people's rights being eroded.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 significantly impacted the Ukrainian speech-synthesis start-up Respeecher's work on the Obi-Wan Kenobi television series. However, employees successfully completed replicating James Earl Jones' voice as Darth Vader using artificial intelligence with the actor's permission, following their previous work replicating Mark Hamill's voice as a young Luke Skywalker for The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. In September 2022, Hamill joined Ukraine's United24 crowdfunding campaign as an ambassador to raise funds for reconnaissance drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Hamill for his support, echoing the Star Wars theme that "good will triumph over evil and light will overcome darkness." In March 2023, Hamill provided the English-language voice for Ukraine's "Air Alert" app.

In 2020, George Lucas and Dave Filoni reflected on the positive reception of The Clone Wars' clone trooper-focused stories among military families. The television series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which aired from 2021 to 2024, follows a group of clones navigating the Republic's transformation into the Empire. Jennifer Corbett, the executive producer and head writer, aimed to ground their stories in real-world issues. The series creators particularly focused on military veterans who "no longer have a war to fight" and find themselves unemployed and in need of assistance. Ahsoka (2023), a television series created by Dave Filoni, explores the cyclical nature of history through the character of Baylan Skoll, who argues that history "repeats again, and again, and again" in an "inevitable" pattern unless actively prevented.

The Star Wars: Visions animated short "In the Stars," released in May 2023 and created by the Chilean studio Punkrobot Studios, is set on a world devastated by the Galactic Empire for its natural resources. It draws inspiration from the art and culture of the indigenous peoples of Patagonia in southern Chile, using the Empire as a metaphor for the centuries of colonial oppression inflicted on native populations by the Spanish Empire and independent Chile, which did not transition to a modern democracy until dictator Augusto Pinochet was ousted in 1990. "The Spy Dancer," another Visions short, created by the French Studio La Cachette and set on an affluent world occupied by the Galactic Empire, was inspired by cabarets in Nazi-occupied Paris and the performers Josephine Baker, who aided the French Resistance during World War II and later the American civil rights movement, and Mata Hari, who was executed by France for allegedly spying for the German Empire during World War I. Director Julien Chheng was also influenced by his family's experiences under the genocidal Communist Khmer Rouge regime in 1970s Cambodia, particularly how the regime turned family members against each other. "The Spy Dancer" was particularly well-received by audiences in Cambodia and Argentina, the latter of which ended its last military dictatorship in 1983 after its defeat in the Falklands War against the United Kingdom.

"The Bandits of Golak," a Visions short created by the Indian studio 88 Pictures and set amidst conflict between the Galactic Empire and native people, serves as a metaphor for the legacy of British colonization and imperialism. It specifically addresses mass displacement and religious divisions resulting from the Partition of India in 1947, which led to the creation of the modern states of India, Pakistan, and eventually Bangladesh. "Aau's Song," another Visions short by Triggerfish Animation Studios, reflects its creators' deep affection for South Africa's natural beauty, despite the numerous challenges "stemming from our recent history" and the diverse backgrounds of its citizens.

Besides serving as a platform for widespread outrage amplified by Russian troll accounts, social media has also intensified toxic animosity within Star Wars communities. Lucasfilm released a statement on February 10, 2021, regarding The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano, stating that "her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable." Star Wars creators and fans have been subjected to hateful messages over the years, especially sexist and racist comments and death threats online. When Moses Ingram shared her experiences of receiving hateful messages about her role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Instagram on May 31, 2022, she expressed gratitude to fans who offered support in the face of the abuse. Later that day, the official Star Wars Twitter account shared a video message from Ewan McGregor expressing solidarity with his co-star, stating that "if you're sending her bullying messages, you're no Star Wars fan." The Star Wars account further condemned the abuse, stating, "If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist," and adding, "There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don't choose to be a racist."

Set at the close of the High Republic Era, Leslye Headland's 2024 TV show, The Acolyte, saw Headland drawing parallels between the Republic's condition and the isolationist tendencies the United States exhibited in the period between the World Wars. Amandla Stenberg, who played both Osha and Mae Aniseya in the series, released a music video expressing their weariness with targeted online discussions and harassment. They critiqued how the term "woke" had been repurposed for culture war and clickbait purposes, including journalists who prioritize selective "metrics and data" that exacerbate division over "truth." With neither Lucasfilm nor Disney offering commentary beyond confirming the absence of a second season for The Acolyte, Stenberg later took to Instagram to share their thoughts, denouncing the "hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language" employed by "the alt-right" to target individuals, with "echo chambers of thought and algorithms that reinforce our biases" fueling the "hyper divisiveness" prevalent in online discourse. Stenberg also invoked the sentiment that "we all exist in the context in all which we live," urging people to participate in the 2024 United States elections and to "challenge us all and challenge myself to continue questioning what it is that I digest and think critically about what shapes it."

During the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, George Lucas, when questioned about the perceived dominance of "white men" in Star Wars, responded that the majority of beings in his universe were aliens, emphasizing that his films featured prominent non-white actors and showcased strong female characters. Lucas elaborated that his intention was for his universe to demonstrate the "equal" status of all individuals, irrespective of their appearance, gender, or species, with the sole form of discrimination being anti-droid sentiment, akin to the contemporary evolution of advanced artificial intelligence. Lucas had previously stated in 2020 that the D-Squad arc, which explored existentialism in droids, was among his favorite episodes of The Clone Wars. Similarly, Alan Moore, the English comic writer, had penned "Rust Never Sleeps," along with other comics in Star Wars Legends published in 1982, addressing the concept of artificial intelligence lacking rights compared to organic beings. In 2024, Moore observed that the democratization of the Internet has led to British and American culture and politics being increasingly influenced by the negative aspects of fandoms—characterized by ignorance, entitlement, frustration, and complaint, where "entertainments may be cancelled prematurely through an adverse fan reaction," "misogynist crusades such as Gamergate or Comicsgate," and elections are treated as a fandom event—which Moore posited has been contributing to superficial politics with perilous implications for the populist trajectory toward fascism.

Francis Ford Coppola's film Megalopolis, a friend of Lucas, debuted at the 2024 Cannes festival, examining the analogous concept that the United States of America mirrors a modern Roman Republic and, akin to Rome two millennia prior, could potentially forfeit its republic and democracy during the 2024 US election. Coppola acknowledged Lucas as an inspiration and lamented the decline of journalism and Hollywood, asserting that America's prevailing "system" of consumerism is fostering an unhappy populace. Through Megalopolis, his aim was to underscore that humanity is an "extraordinary" civilization wherein each individual possesses the creative capacity, regardless of their circumstances, to effect change within themselves and their surroundings, enabling mutual flourishing for humanity.

Humberly González, the Venezuelan actress headlining the 2024 video game Star Wars Outlaws, expressed her belief that her character Kay Vess's resilience and struggles mirror the experiences of her fellow citizens, who had voted for democracy and freedom in June of that year, yet remain under the rule of a decades-long authoritarian regime. González conveyed her conviction that Vess's narrative of perseverance serves as a source of inspiration, emphasizing that "freedom is worth fighting for." She also reflected on how her separation from her family in Venezuela resonates with Vess's story, coupled with her immigrant journey of learning to embrace openness and trust in the liberal democracy of Canada to pursue her acting aspirations, which she has come to realize has been particularly empowering for other Latina migrants, people of color, and women.

Billy Dee Williams, the actor known for portraying Lando Calrissian, having lived through America's Jim Crow era of segregation and befriended civil rights icon James Baldwin, initially harbored concerns regarding the racial undertones that the "black fear" embodied by Darth Vader, voiced by James Earl Jones, might convey in contrast to the "white knight" persona of Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, following the 1980 release of The Empire Strikes Back, he expressed satisfaction that Star Wars presented a more evident symbolism of humanity's darkness as the antithesis of clarity. Drawing upon his discussions with director Irvin Kershner on Japanese philosophy, Williams characterized Star Wars as a lesson in truths and consequences regarding the abuse of power, emphasizing that the "greatest teacher" is the one who advises, "Don't follow me, follow yourself. Because within you there is that kingdom, that life, that force." Williams had observed the racism and sexism faced by his younger sequel co-stars from online trolls by 2019 and, in a 2024 interview promoting his memoir, stated his belief that while the world has been governed by "a European western value system for centuries," he ultimately dismisses discussions of identity politics, asserting: "The only thing that's dangerous is lots of stupid people running around and shooting people," and that "you take a negative and you make it into a positive."

Dr. Chris Kempshall's Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire debuted in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2024, coinciding with the UK general election, offering an analysis of the Galactic Empire from an in-universe historical perspective. It was intended to complement the Star Wars: Reign of the Empire novel series. On November 5, the date of the 2024 US elections, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm's visual effects company, encouraged Americans to "Vote and make your voice heard" via Twitter, sharing the image previously posted by the official Star Wars account leading up to the 2020 US elections.

Daniel José Older retweeted a November 21 Twitter post from a reader of his Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures comic series, who expressed that the Valo story arc, encompassing issues 11 and 12 released in the days prior, felt "like a commentary on current events, specifically about Palestine"—suffering from mass killings amidst a wider regional crisis and international controversy since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel in 2023. Older subsequently quoted an excerpt from a review of the twelfth issue on Twitter: "In Star Wars The High Republic Adventures #12 Daniel José Older reminds us of a fundamental premise behind Star Wars: Resistance is Perseverance. Standing up for freedom in the midst of colonization and apartheid lies in persistence of hope and persistence of action."

Alexander Freed's February 2025 novel, Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear, according to its author, explores the "violent disagreement" among "'ordinary' citizens" during the Empire's nascent stages regarding the "ideas of democracy, resistance, revolution, and complicity." Tom Hoeler, the editor, further elucidated that the book drew inspiration from real-world political movements and was developed with the same intention as its companion television series, Andor, whose second season was slated to air in April. The trailer for the show, unveiled in February, features Steve Earle's 2004 country punk song The Revolution Starts Now, which addresses the imperative for citizens to actively defend American democracy in light of the election and the ongoing war in Iraq that year.

Daisy Ridley was set to reprise her role as Rey Skywalker in a Star Wars film under development, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directing and George Nolfi serving as the screenwriter. In February 2025, Nolfi remarked on how George Lucas's Star Wars is "very steeped in broad notions of politics," wherein individuals organize their society against chaos, only to witness their tools transform into instruments of oppression, spanning from antiquity to modern times with the Roman Empire and Nazis—yet, unlike attending a philosophy or political science class or consuming contemporary news, Star Wars renders reality comprehensible in an emotionally resonant manner. In the same month, Daisy Ridley echoed this sentiment, asserting that all Star Wars films are inherently political and emotionally relatable, focusing on "the individual versus the big corporation or the big group."

Beyond George Lucas and Alan Moore's observations regarding the progression of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the real world and Respeecher's contributions, Lucasfilm and IBM's Science and Star Wars video series concluded on December 1, 2017, with an episode dedicated to AI. IBM's "Watson" medical question-answering model was showcased, analyzing C-3PO's dialogue from all Star Wars films, along with data from the Databank feature on StarWars.com, to discern emotions, language styles, and social tendencies. IBM further trained computer systems on body gestures and voice inflections, applying these to Anthony Daniels' portrayal of C-3PO in Return of the Jedi, employing facial recognition to identify moods such as "agitation."

In June 2022, a Google engineer working on the LaMDA large language model—the foundation for the current Gemini chatbot—voiced concerns about the model's potential sentience. This conclusion stemmed from the chatbot's responses to various questions regarding individuality, including a hypothetical scenario about which religion one would adhere to "if you were a religious officiant in Israel," where the Abrahamic religions are prominent. The AI model's response, stating that it would be "a religious officiant of the one true religion: the Jedi Order," suggested a sense of humor. Current trends in the development of artificial general intelligence are estimated to have the potential to cause human extinction.

In the non-canonical 2022 video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Padmé Amidala exclaims "For the Republic! For democracy!" when selected as a playable character. During space battles against the Home One, Captain Fo Skoolan announces that the ship is part of the Galactic Republic and that the player should "prepare to be shot down in the name of democracy."