How the Senate Works in Star Wars

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 486

  • @CoreysDatapad
    @CoreysDatapad  2 ปีที่แล้ว +222

    This one's been in the works for a while, so I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if there's other similar style videos you'd like to see.
    There are few areas where I could have made comparisons to places like Germany rather than Canada/UK/US, but I figured with the bulk of th audience being from those palces, it made more sense using those as the basis of comparison rather than explaining another system as the basis to compare what we were talking about.

    • @sheevpalpatine2128
      @sheevpalpatine2128 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      This is a amazing work Corey. Some people complained about all the political sub plots when the prequels came out but I loved it, the whole grand plan and chess moves by... Well me lol. I thought things were well put together, from the Sith infiltrating the intergalactic banking clan, to arranging for the Jedi to seek out Kamino to secretly (even from themselves ) create the clone army and all their gear. I really enjoy the longer videos thanks M8. 🤘

    • @Upsedriss
      @Upsedriss 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      would love more of these longer videos, this one was a lot of fun!

    • @amysargent4237
      @amysargent4237 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Did Coruscant, Alsakan, and/or Raxus (Capital of The CIS) have senators for their respective governments/factions in times past? Or, when they were the capitals of their governments/factions, did they just having "Non-Voting Representation" status, because of "Taxation without Representation" arguments for districts, instead of states/provinces; much like Washington D.C, or even Puerto Rico in The United States' case? (I don't know what the political status of Puerto Rico is right now, I know it's neither a state, nor a district. Is it truly a soverign nation of it's own, or, is it like Herglic Space, Nouane, Paqwepor, Bothan Space, and even Hutt Space in some ways, because it's like an "Allied Region" to The USA?)

    • @barnettmcgowan8978
      @barnettmcgowan8978 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Awesome job! I loved the long format.

    • @ifrichardnixonwasgoodatfoo1470
      @ifrichardnixonwasgoodatfoo1470 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t directly mention the Canadian Senate as an odd and undemocratic federal chamber (in regards to the regional block system) as opposed to the American Senate’s comparatively equal, if disproportional, arrangement.

  • @gavinsmith9871
    @gavinsmith9871 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1676

    The hodgepodge nature of the Senate actually makes a lot of sense. Remember that it existed for thousands of years. The Republic changed, was destroyed and reformed, multiple times across history. So it only follows that it would be a conglomerate of very old, slightly old, or completely new laws and precident. Before the modern period, this was very common. There is a perception that the Roman Empire or Pre-Revolution France were absolute unitary states but this could not be further from the case, Every city and internal division had its own customs and laws, and agreements with the central polity. These often changed and changed back multiple times. And ti seems like the Republic was much the same.

    • @albernardi8
      @albernardi8 2 ปีที่แล้ว +122

      That’s what I was thinking as I watched this. Maybe I’m just doing mental gymnastics or whatever, but I actually like how dense the retcons are for the Republic. It makes sense that people would be checked out of politics if understanding THIS was the barrier to entry. And like you said, there’s thousands of years of reforms and revolutions. It’s a bit like scar tissue: it builds up over time the more injuries are inflicted

    • @theliato3809
      @theliato3809 2 ปีที่แล้ว +46

      It certainly makes sense. So much upheval followed by a millenium of relative peace is gonna make one heck of a system

    • @boobah5643
      @boobah5643 2 ปีที่แล้ว +49

      It's worth pointing out that one of the first things the French Revolution did once it assumed power was straight up eliminate _all_ the old internal borders (and the tariffs and special carve outs associated with those borders) and reorganized France into the modern districts.
      The older the system, the more likely you are to have special rules for certain areas; as an example, Lake Champlain in New York is eligible for federal funds targeted for the Great Lakes, despite not being one, and has been since the 90s. And that's a relatively young system; the federal government is less than a a quarter millennium old, and it's only been in the last century that it's started mucking about with puppeteering states via financial strings.

    • @90skidcultist
      @90skidcultist 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      The 20,000 year old late Galactic Republic was only destroyed ONCE. It was a vassal of the Eternal Empire, along with the Sith Empire, but was destroyed when it became the Empire. Long live the Republic and the Jedi that serve it!

    • @gavinsmith9871
      @gavinsmith9871 2 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      @@90skidcultist In Legends. In canon we know it was destroyed at least once and it has been implied to have been destroyed multiple times.
      As for your last sentence though? Based and Chad Lightside pilled.

  • @00yiggdrasill00
    @00yiggdrasill00 2 ปีที่แล้ว +398

    Given the mass of historical precedent on laws and the sheer amount of planets and peoples the republic was trying to represent I think flaws were inevitable. That the Jedi went from watching the republic and working to uphold morality to serving the senate as a law enforcement agency would not have helped.

    • @shadowmystery5613
      @shadowmystery5613 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Bruh Lucas LITERALLY copied german history.

    • @arcanegamer2723
      @arcanegamer2723 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      That and not having another branch of power to keep the senate in check didn't help as the head of the republic and the head of the senate are the same title and they also are elected by the senators so there are even less checks on their power.

    • @rear9259
      @rear9259 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

      @@shadowmystery5613and? George Martin just copied medieval Britain

    • @wildfire9280
      @wildfire9280 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@rear9259 …I’m not really seeing it. Everyone says it’s just like the War of the Roses but Westeros itself seems like a lot of different inspirations than “it’s literally Britain omg”

  • @ericremotesteam
    @ericremotesteam 2 ปีที่แล้ว +146

    And to think people say politics in Star Wars are boring. 😏

  • @Tyranidus7
    @Tyranidus7 2 ปีที่แล้ว +295

    Given the numbers of worlds involved in universe a representative government was going to get stupidly complicated and gridlocked all the time no matter how this was structured lol. Makes Palpatine’s efforts seem almost understandable.

    • @buddermonger2000
      @buddermonger2000 2 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      Though to be fair trying to centralize such a large entity would've been almost impossible and it's amazing they got as far as they did and in part is from the incredibly large military apparatus which effectively ran civilian life.

    • @Kenfren
      @Kenfren 2 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      Tbh, the best system for such a "country" would be some form of decentralized semi-feudal monarchy, similar to mediaeval France. Where you have the king, but the lands are largely controlled by nobles, who have strong power bases of their own

    • @wildfire9280
      @wildfire9280 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      @@buddermonger2000 Well he did kinda sidestep the law and every planet government by appointing governors…

    • @princevesperal
      @princevesperal ปีที่แล้ว +21

      ​@@KenfrenAnd that's why "Dune" is nicknamed "Star Wars for adults". That's exactly the political system in the multi-planetary empire described in this work.

    • @arcanegamer2723
      @arcanegamer2723 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@princevesperal Although a centralized government would still have been able to work if the head of government head of the military head of the legislative branch and chief of state were separate titles not all appointed by the senate. The major issue with the republic is that it lost all branches of government except the legislative as the judicial was technically still a thing but an under reformed mess that had no power compared to the senate (that and the fact that mega corps were given seats in a purely public run governing body). Now one thing that people often forget was that the senate's power wasn't absolute its member states and member planets had a great deal of autonomy in how they rule and the laws they had.

  • @BenisTodbringer
    @BenisTodbringer 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    Maintaining a strong central government across such a heterogeneous constituency was completely infeasible. The Republic should have been transformed into more of a confederacy, with another deliberative body in between the sectors and the Galactic Senate (of course the Core Worlds would never allow this, because decentralization means less influence for them).
    Here's what I think they should have done:
    1. Redesign sector boundaries, so instead of a random grouping of systems, it takes into account things like local politics and cultures (e.g. don't put Kasyyyk and Trandosha in the same sector). Make it so that each new sector needs a minimum number of star systems in it. Sectors decide internally how to elect the sector representatives.
    2. Combine the sectors into several administrative groups, almost like making smaller Republics out of groups of sectors. This body is meant to create most of the policies that would affect all of the sectors, almost like a scaled-down version of the original Galactic Senate. Most of the time, a given sector or system isn't going to be affected by issues or laws from another sector on the complete opposite side of the galaxy.
    Sector representatives also elect Senator(s) from amongst themselves by plurality vote. The number of Senators they can choose is the same for each group of sectors. If the highest candidate(s) get less than a certain percentage of votes, then they need to hold another election (e.g. if the winner gets like 0.1% of the total votes, then that candidate isn't really going to represent the other sectors). To force them to resolve gridlock, if they can't agree on Senators, then they don't get a voice in the Galactic Senate.
    3. Galactic Senate (or the highest deliberative body) consists of Senators chosen from the sector groups. The Senate would be for issues that affect the entire galaxy.
    4. Chancellor is elected by a series of popular votes that start at the sector level, then sector group.

    • @buddermonger2000
      @buddermonger2000 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Ooof. Issues with this are really the idea of a popular vote at all with the levels which are being discussed. Multiple planets are dealing with populations of literally billions and when you get a whole galaxy trying to get a majority to agree on 1 leader is almost laughable. That's not even mentioning the fact that each planet isn't even necessarily a democracy and so having a popular vote on a leader quite literally multiple levels above you makes no sense. It's honestly logistically just beyond feasibility in some respects.
      However you have a point in the devolution to the tiny republics and the formation of a confederation for the overall republic as a true federal model simply breaks down at that scale and thus necessitates another decentralized level.
      There is also another portion worth noting where the republic is effectively the only power in the galaxy. There are technically other powers but they're dwarfed in scope and very few. Thus there are incredibly few things which work Galaxy wide and thus the highest level would effectively be an internal organization meant to manage things between sector republics.

  • @SubManic
    @SubManic 2 ปีที่แล้ว +61

    This is a very nerdy video that is very well written. The policy wonkery continues.

  • @violentmnky
    @violentmnky 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I asked in a comment, maybe 2 years ago, for you to please do longer videos. You actually responded to it, thus I am taking full credit for this video. You definitely never would have thought to get into more longform stuff if it weren't for little old me, and that's just a fact. I expect full credit in the next video that comes out after you read this, thanks!
    No seriously, this was excellent. You're steadily getting better at this, don't stop. Imo best and most criminally underrated Star Wars adjacent channel. Only a matter of time.

  • @checohidalgo9873
    @checohidalgo9873 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    It never ceases to amaze me the amount of dedication people put into works of fictional chronology.

  • @rockinglemon9399
    @rockinglemon9399 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Wow, what a fun and interesting deep dive into the politics of Star Wars. Keep it up!

  • @worldwanderer91
    @worldwanderer91 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    The Republic is more parliamentarian than a federal government. The Chancellor is elected among existing senators (like PM in the UK and Commonwealth nations) and not in a separate election like the US. Also the Senate have the executive powers and responsibilities normally under the purview of the executive office

    • @CoreysDatapad
      @CoreysDatapad  2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Being a parliamentary democracy is not a distinct thing from a federation, they describe different elements in the organization of a state- the UK and Canada are both parliamentary democracies for example, and Canada is a (con)federation where the UK is not. You can have federal systems that are parliamentary democracies, and you can have federal systems that are not.

    • @Kolonol1
      @Kolonol1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Lol the people don't elect the president anymore either in the US....we are an Oligarchy not a people's Republic anymore...

  • @redbassist5590
    @redbassist5590 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    38 minute long datapad video? Let's gooooooo

  • @arseneken
    @arseneken 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This may or may not be the most interesting Star Wars video I’ve ever seen, I need to check with my sector representative first before casting my vote

  • @Dumb-Comment
    @Dumb-Comment 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Imagine being a senator and representative, a group of monks telling you that the supreme court is run by some dude who according to the monks, is the opposite of their religion and is evil. I'm not surprised if the Jedi isn't taken seriously

    • @awe-fullanimations4737
      @awe-fullanimations4737 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      But what if those monks visibly use divine magic for all to see and are supernatural in many ways?

    • @kingorange7739
      @kingorange7739 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You mean the executive branch?

  • @g.davidturnblom5751
    @g.davidturnblom5751 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Well constructed. Thanks. Most people don't understand their own governments, let alone fictional one such as seen in Star Wars. This video was not just informative, it provided solid educational benefits to those studying the real world, too!

  • @LordofIsleofTritone
    @LordofIsleofTritone 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I really enjoyed this video and the deep dive it gave. I've been looking forward to this for a while. I've always wondered how the Senatorial system worked with sectors.

  • @jaker.astrophotography8076
    @jaker.astrophotography8076 ปีที่แล้ว

    Its really cool to here the other side of star wars, nice in depth video

  • @sergioruiz733
    @sergioruiz733 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This honestly is probably my favourite video you have ever done. Not dismissing anything else, but I am really enjoying listening and listening again and hearing your explanations and concepts by using real world examples to make more sense. Reminds me of my earlier poli sci classes in Uni. Great stuff. Please do more of these Corey.

  • @Pittcrew1034
    @Pittcrew1034 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    love the work that went into this video. Great work as always Corey!

  • @brianhuffman2070
    @brianhuffman2070 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    "The Senate is no longer of any concern to us, he was thrown down a reactor shaft, if you would like to wait until the senates return in approx 30 years you can continue to serve at a reduced wage. " Tarkin if he lived through ep 6

  • @andregermain6205
    @andregermain6205 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    A trully excellent video

  • @arpkahn670
    @arpkahn670 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I'd love to see more longform content like this!

  • @dizehjvegnomis
    @dizehjvegnomis 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    this was a great vid, it's fun to revisit these stories through this lens! borsk fey'lya always bugged the hell out of me with his politics...but i gotta respect the spite he showed the vong at his bitter end.

  • @ArcBing
    @ArcBing 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Love the video, and your real world comparisons made it much more understandable. Definitely can tell you have some background and deeper understanding of government structures. Great work as always!

  • @greg.anywhere
    @greg.anywhere ปีที่แล้ว +1

    If im not mistaken, during the reign of the Empire, Mas Amedda was the highest ranking Imperial after the Emperor. Where Palpatine was the head of state, Mas Amedda was the actual head of government in the rank of Grand Vizier, and the leader of the imperial ruling council. So bascially Mas Amedda outranked Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

  • @chinguunerdenebadrakh7022
    @chinguunerdenebadrakh7022 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I think it's like if there was a world government IRL and the only entities represented there are supranational institutions like European Union, African Union, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, NAFTA etc with one representative from each.
    Within a single unit of the WG, like the EU, there's still different governments ruling different countries who have very diverse ways of organizing their interal government.

  • @underarmbowlingincidentof1981
    @underarmbowlingincidentof1981 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Well. I didn't think I'd sit through fourty minutes of political theory for a made up universe but damn that was some good content!
    Great video!
    The research you put into these must be tremendous and it shows it really shows!
    Highest praise!

  • @LeRoiDuFresne
    @LeRoiDuFresne 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was dope as hell, really added some depth to an already deep understanding of the Republic. Amazing vid, would be excited to see more of the same kind.

  • @florianjongejeugd3902
    @florianjongejeugd3902 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I think senators of Naboo were apointed not elected. Padme alludes to it in attack of the clones she didn't really want to be senator but the queen asked her to and then she was the senator.

    • @slykeren8371
      @slykeren8371 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Senators from naboo are essentially diplomats appointed by the monarchy. The plaguies books go into this

  • @rubenp8320
    @rubenp8320 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This is what I needed for my Stellaris runs. Thank you so much and I subbed! send Eck my thanks!

  • @ethanomcbride
    @ethanomcbride ปีที่แล้ว +2

    10/10 this was made by a Canadian

  • @lukaszrower7612
    @lukaszrower7612 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    25,000 years is a long time for everything that was working well to fall apart over time.

  • @T61974
    @T61974 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing video!

  • @benjaminallenbowles
    @benjaminallenbowles 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    It's worth noting that Federal and Federation (or Confederation) are not the same thing. A Federal system is the in-between position, where the central government holds most, but not all of the power (like the US, Germany, etc). A Confederation (or just Federation) refers to a system where the central government has very limited power, and the sub-divisions hold most of it. The US under the Articles of Confederation was an example of this, as was the Holy Roman Empire (and your typical High Medieval realm). The central government probably can't even tax effectively in a Federation. That's why the Republic is most accurately portrayed as Federal; the central government and planets share power, with the central government holding most of the cards.

    • @kingorange7739
      @kingorange7739 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Federation and Confederation do not mean the same thing. While both have a similar structure and relationship dynamic, the difference lies that a Federation's central government does have more power over its parts while a Confederation does not.

  • @raphaellapointe9143
    @raphaellapointe9143 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    They should have created more levels of government. You just cannot have one level being the local planet and then skipping straight to the fucking galactic-wide governement. In addition to having sectors represented instead of planets, they should also have created SECTOR GOVERNMENTS. This would have allowed them to create fewer and bigger sectors instead of many small ones and to keep the number of representatives in the galactic senate to a manageable level without actually leaving out anyone

  • @angmid9210
    @angmid9210 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Fantastic video

  • @LemonCupcakeVRInfinity
    @LemonCupcakeVRInfinity ปีที่แล้ว

    New Republic: Opens the senate again. Poe Dameron: Somehow Palpetine returned...

    • @TheKeyser94
      @TheKeyser94 ปีที่แล้ว

      Really? With the barren wasteland that is the world building of the Sequels you never realise that is a Senate.

  • @bonno55
    @bonno55 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Gotta love my politics in Star Wars.

  • @გიორგიმოსაშვილი-ო3დ

    Someone: Ugh, who the hell cares?! Just nerds
    Us nerds: Yaaay about time

  • @mm99101
    @mm99101 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    They implemented such a complicated electoral system to represent all these planets and seemingly didn't figure out that proportional representation was a thing.

  • @robertdragan2333
    @robertdragan2333 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The Senate looks more alike to the Soviet Union s Supreme Soviet, which elected its General Secretary and ministers

  • @mog-myownbestfriend
    @mog-myownbestfriend หลายเดือนก่อน

    I was having such a pleasant day until I remembered Borsk Fey'la

  • @michaelandreipalon359
    @michaelandreipalon359 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Yeah, Talon Kaarde and Lando Calrissian's actions on the votes again Fyor Rodan (why am I picturing a kaiju while mentioning him?) sure were shady, but at least they were extremely justified and ultimately necessary.
    Feel free to talk about benevolent corruption in Star Wars, Corey. Bonus if you're going to use real life examples that worked wonders and maybe even some non-Star Wars fiction so to give an easier description.

  • @amysargent4237
    @amysargent4237 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I still wonder if Coruscant itself had a senator? Or, is it like Washington D.C, where it has a "Non-voting representative" in The House of Representatives; basically, to cop-out of The "Taxation without Representation" problem with D.C being a Federal District, and not having full-fledged statehood? During The Alsakan Wars, did Alsakan also have this problem, or, Raxus (Capital of The CIS) during The Clone Wars?

    • @CoreysDatapad
      @CoreysDatapad  2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Coruscant did have a Senator, I believe Valorum was Coruscant's rep.

    • @amysargent4237
      @amysargent4237 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@CoreysDatapad Really? I hear a lot of conflicting information on TH-cam on this topic, so I'm confused. What exact source says Coruscant had a senator, just so I understand?

    • @trivipesnipe
      @trivipesnipe ปีที่แล้ว

      @@amysargent4237 You meet Coruscant's Senator in The Old Republic MMO.

  • @MuddieRain
    @MuddieRain 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    “Is the world more peaceful since the revolution?” So much better under Empire.

  • @vonneely1977
    @vonneely1977 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Actually, Palpaine was elected Emperor. His superpower was being a master manipulator, after all.

  • @davidak0496
    @davidak0496 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Why do they do it by the battle of yavin and not order 66 i didnt even know what the battle of yavin is

  • @Fenris77
    @Fenris77 ปีที่แล้ว

    19:06 The Space Africaaners...

  • @joeldavis9298
    @joeldavis9298 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Would you say that New Canon has tried portraying some of the political system differently compared to legends. It seems like the New Republic in Canon for instance tried to be a more egalitarian in nature, and while I'm not sure, it does seem they did try to have a certain democratic standard for it's member states. I'm also curious if the Old Republic in Canon didn't do the whole Pius Die dictatorship dynasty thing.

    • @luluflu1140
      @luluflu1140 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I think you might be correct. The New Republic in Legends don't even pretend to be a democratic state most of the time and by the end it's even called the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances so the democratic nature of the regime is all but thrown away in favor of federalism and even the imperial remnants and the hutt clans were for a time part of this federation so as you can see they where basically no democratic criteria for systems to join the New Republic to the point that the leadership wanted Kessel to become a member of the New Republic. KESSEL : THE PLANET WITH SPICE MINES, BLACK SUN MEMBERS AND SLAVERY !!! After the second galactic civil war the imperial that reunified the empire to fight the jedi is elected chief of state. Yes she had not the reputation of being power hungry like some imperial warlords because she gave up the power she had to Pellaeon which was one of the best thing she ever did. And yes she also was forced to take control of the Empire by the warlords ego and furthermore she also helped fight Mogg Getelles in 13 ABY but the fact that she got elected head of state should be proof enough that the Galactic Federation from the original expanded universe is not a paragon of democracy. But is that a bad thing ? Not necessarily because the more malicious or negligent the galactic governement is, the more problem there is in the galaxy and that means more adventures for Luke and the gang !

  • @seihai-kun6726
    @seihai-kun6726 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    "The prequels are so boring. They have too much politics."

  • @joshuaroehrig5836
    @joshuaroehrig5836 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Quality content

  • @christophmahler
    @christophmahler ปีที่แล้ว

    The queen has died.
    Your 'sovereign' of the Dominion within the 'Commonwealth' is now a king Charles III...
    It is an interesting question why Lucas - and his contracted authors - took the Westminster system as an inspiration for the 'Galactic Senate' - instead of the _presidential_ democracy of the United States where the president can be understood - in constitutional theory - as an electory monarch in all but name - an institution that goes back to Alexander Hamilton and the 'Federalists', advocating _centralization_ (everything in America is turned on it's head)...
    The limitation of representation to 'equal' sectors is the monstrosity of the US *Electoral College* in which the public vote is neglectable if an electoral campaign wins solely the current 'swing states', making actual policy irrelevant if the proper votes are gained by any means necessary - originally, all these measures were taken by the founding fathers to minimize populism...and Bonapartism, redering the political caucuses as the - hardly mentioned, covert - de facto sovereign, negotiating e.g. George Washinton as the upcoming first president and stacking candidates in the elections, respectively...
    A similar perversion can be observed within the European Union when dependent colonies like Malta are elevated to nominally sovereign states, tilting votes in the European Council along the agenda whoever has most influence over the fragmented statelets (the Baltics, Slovenia, Bosnia, 'Northern Macedonia' are further examples of stacking councils with nominal members).
    This constitutional scheme does not only obscure oligarchy - or hegemony by one state - within the political union, but also twists the political process as actual public opinion and grievances can't be represented, proportionally anymore - hence the political weariness or extremism within nominal 'democracies' (the EU sports a parliament, but it lacks legeslatory initiative, budgetary and investigative powers - it exists solely to be lobbied).
    All these problems are reflected in STAR WARS lore, but it remains a vague reflection upon 'taxation bound to representation' - wich is a major flaw in Lucas' worldbuilding if he wanted to show how an idealistic republic can be turned into a de facto dictatorship or demonic theocracy - neither is really necessary for the ills of actual Western imperialism since Cromwell - and boils that threat down to a conspiracy of three individuals: Plagueis, Palpatine and Maul - which is the same as explaining the rise of Nazi Germany with the hypnotic powers of Adolf Hitler...
    In general, Parliamentarism can't really never have enough representatives as it increases the number of minor pieces on a board that can be manipulated for lesser than cost than e.g. in a Triumvirate - when each individal can claim the support - and mobilize - of the entire 'eöectorate' as during the Roman Republic Civil Wars and throughout the imperial Dominate.
    The observations on the bicameral system as including a federal element - even if feudal as historically with the depopulated 'Rotten Boroughs' in the House of Lords in Britain - are correct.
    ...and again one must wonder why the franchise writers were unable to draw upon that basic _political culture_ - at least having considered, how it would fit or affect the narrative...
    In that sense, Socrates was completely right to banish the poets from the polis as their image of the world is an ill-constructed lie, like a poorly painted set piece...

    • @TheKeyser94
      @TheKeyser94 ปีที่แล้ว

      Who say that Republic was idealistic? In the Phantom Menace the Republic was already full of corruption in the Senate and the Courts, and Lucas in his own worlds take more inspiration in the Roman Senate than the European Union.

  • @LillianWagoner-rz4yg
    @LillianWagoner-rz4yg หลายเดือนก่อน

    T.L.D.W; it’s complicated

  • @ghoultube666
    @ghoultube666 ปีที่แล้ว

    I think the politics of Star Wars is pretty fascinating and it's always annoyed me a bit when fans go "oh but the politics is so boring" cause really the politics drives heaps of the action. The Rebellion is political. The Clone Wars is political. The struggle between the Jedi and the Sith a political struggle of ideologies. Even George Lucas acknowledges that his story is immensely political, both in mirroring the rise of dictators, and in the anti-imperial struggles of the past, specifically Vietnam.
    I've been involved in some Star Wars Roleplaying servers before and one of the things that annoys me about them is the lack of acknowledgement of that political factor. As such, I have created my own Star Wars Model Senate, which is a Star Wars political simulation based on reddit that is attempting to provide a more serious and authentic look at the development of politics in Star Wars and the key political questions that arose, as we move towards the Separatist crisis and the breakdown of the Republic as a political entity. You can find that subreddit here: www.reddit.com/r/starwars_model_senate/ and you can find a link to our discord here: discord.gg/mYh4MAsjX9

  • @samflood5631
    @samflood5631 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I don’t get why the Starkiller Base didn’t destroy Coursant in Force Awakens. I mean it was such an important planet of the Star Wars franchise and yet it has not once appear in the Disney sequel trilogy. The Starkiller base just destroyed five planets we barely know. That scene would have made a bigger impact if Coursant was destroyed during the five planet destruction incident.

    • @kingorange7739
      @kingorange7739 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Because the fans would have been outraged if they did. JJ was actually aiming for Corsucant to be destroyed but it got altered/retconned to be a different planet. Plus Coruscant is such an important hub world that destroying it would make it hard to establish a galactic government period. I would also imagine the First Order would not be fond with destroying the world that was the Imperial capital.

  • @blorfenburger
    @blorfenburger 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Going to watch this instead of my county's election between an old white man with dementia and an old white man that probably wants to kick me out of the country

  • @chrismanaloe3507
    @chrismanaloe3507 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Sate Pestage was the leader of the Senate under Palpatine

  • @kingkusnacht
    @kingkusnacht 2 ปีที่แล้ว +561

    The Duros or even the planet of Duro not having their own senator doesn't really make sense. They are supposed to be one of the few founding members of the Republic . It's unthinkable that they'd agree to founding a federation in which they have no say.

    • @corrinestenman5683
      @corrinestenman5683 2 ปีที่แล้ว +69

      I think it's highly likely that they were one of the first independent constituencies to have their own senator.

    • @boobah5643
      @boobah5643 2 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      Aren't the Duros supposed to be the second most populous species in the Republic?

    • @christopherwilliams7845
      @christopherwilliams7845 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      My headcannon probably did have a Senator for most of Republic history but after Ruuason they were gerrymandered into being part of Corellia, a subtle sign of Humanocentrism that infects the Republic even when they are free of Sith control and corruption.

    • @buddermonger2000
      @buddermonger2000 2 ปีที่แล้ว +56

      Like he went over it didn't start that way. Originally it was a planetary basis until it was reorganized into the sector system. It's likely that as new members came in and new political powers arose that the representation of the Duros was slowly whittled away as they got put into minorities into multiple sectors and thus eventually effectively denied representation. Though what doesn't make sense is them not forming some sort of Duros interest group at some point.
      Though in that respect look no further than the fact that each writer had different ideas and goals and thus didn't really look to each other thus creating clashing lore.

    • @redfive8486
      @redfive8486 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@boobah5643 not likely and even if they were the galaxy is like 70% humans 3%alien 2%alien 2%alien and so on

  • @shadowulfhedinn8261
    @shadowulfhedinn8261 2 ปีที่แล้ว +336

    I've been looking forward to this, the political schemes in star wars, especially prequel era and just prior imo, are very interesting! Great breakdown, 10 "I am the Senate"s out of 10

    • @sypherthe297th2
      @sypherthe297th2 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      We seem to be in a small minority. When I first saw RotJ I loved Palpatine. More than I ever did Vader. The prequels (especially Revenge of the Sith but also the Clone Wars tv show) were my favorites because I waited what felt like an eternity to find out all about Palpatine's swashbuckling adventures as the Senate. As far as I'm concerned the overarching theme of Star Wars is "Palpatine did it" even long after his final death his shadow loomed large over everything (and no Disney's poorly written Star Wars media doesn't count. . . Aside from Rogue One. It was pretty decent).
      Sadly, most people seem to hate all of the politics and just want to see lightsaber battles exclusively.

    • @rvkice23
      @rvkice23 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Double the votes, twice the fall!

    • @wildfire9280
      @wildfire9280 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ⁠@@sypherthe297th2 Rogue One and Andor are easily the best content to ever come out of the acquisition.

    • @triciagurr411
      @triciagurr411 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Senator from Hoth
      Senator from Dagobah

  • @isd_chimaera8335
    @isd_chimaera8335 2 ปีที่แล้ว +430

    Corey actually just put in the time and effort to make a 40 minute video breaking down the entire political structure of the Republic. What a legend

  • @jordanjames2956
    @jordanjames2956 2 ปีที่แล้ว +269

    It is amazing that the senate ever got anything done. Just imagine all of the differences between just human and near human members. Then add on top of that some of the species with more "alien" physologies and it is a miracle it even existed.

    • @BoleDaPole
      @BoleDaPole 2 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      I think once aliens are in the mix humans won't find thier differences so gaping

    • @xerty5502
      @xerty5502 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      I would think that founding members of the rebublic would rather like the idea of the senate not being capable of doing much. In fact other then some brief periods of increased centralization usaly under external threat. The powerful systems seem to keep a system that makes centralization of power at the federal leavl difficult as the norm.

    • @rvkice23
      @rvkice23 ปีที่แล้ว

      A weakness Palpatine exploited on screen. I'm sure he wasn't fully lying when he said he loved democracy. Because with parliamentary maneuvers, he could pit any number of Senators up against others, gridlocking the place down until at last they were begging for a strong leader. One who will not let our tragedy continue@@xerty5502

    • @lorefox201
      @lorefox201 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@xerty5502 and that was usually good for most planets I'd wager, given that at such scales the alternative is outright imperialism.

    • @xerty5502
      @xerty5502 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@lorefox201 instead you see economic dominance and economic rather then military imperialism lead by those powerful systems to be honest not much differnce in the end. On the otherhand the lack of centralization probaly acualy keep the republic going longer because it keep the corruption less overwhelming for longer hard to say though to much of the history is just bullet points and not fleashed out enough to getvthose details that would tell us much

  • @nicholaswalsh4462
    @nicholaswalsh4462 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    So on a recent watch-through of the Prequels, I have found something.
    In "The Phantom Menace", Chancellor Valorum introduces Palpatine by saying, "The Chair Recognizes the representative of the SOVEREIGN SYSTEM of Naboo". Sovereign System. Interesting choice of words but surely just a one-off, right? Wrong. In "The Clone Wars" Season 1, Episode 15 "Trespass", Pantoran Chairman Cho describes Orto Plutonia as "Sovereign Pantoran Territory" and even declares the conflict between Pantora and the Talz to be an 'Internal affair", which relegates both Senator Chuchi (and by extension the Senate) as well as the Jedi to merely being passengers during his efforts to effect a genocide upon the Talz. It is not until Chuchi contacts that Pantoran Assembly and they declare Chi Cho out of order that she is able to negotiate with the Talz.
    What this indicates is that the Galactic Republic is not a Federal State or even a nation in the conventional sense but rather something more akin to the United Nations or the European Union. Member states have near total autonomy on internal matters and, as seen in neutral systems throughout the Clone Wars, foreign policy. Indeed, the use of the word "sovereign" to describe both Naboo and Pantora is telling. To be sovereign is to have "supreme or ultimate power". If Naboo is a Sovereign System, then the laws of Naboo ultimately supercede those of the Galactic Senate, unless accepted by the Naboo. Similarly, if Pantora is able to declare Orto Plutonia sovereign territory, then they are able to exercise authority superior to that of the Republic and the Republic is only able to act based on the will of the Pantoran government, rather than Republic Law.
    When this is all combined, many of the inconsistencies of the Republic make more sense. The issue of representation becomes the result of planetary sovereignty, with more powerful member worlds able to exercise their sovereignty to a greater degree and leverage representation in the Senate. It also explains the Senate's impotence, as the sovereignty of member worlds means that any action must be taken with general acceptance by the parties involved. It also explains why the Jedi were the only means used to attempt to solve the conflict between Naboo and the Trade Federation. The Republic is limited only to the deployment of "Peacekeepers", much like the UN is. And those peacekeepers have a very limited mandate off Coruscant. As Qui Gon says, "I can't fight a war for you." It also, handily, explains why so many worlds both joined the CIS and looked the other way as many CIS generals committed heinous acts of brutality. Many of the worlds mentioned as siding with the CIS lacked Senate representation, which they gained in the Confederacy's parliament. As such, those worlds are likely to have viewed the brutality of Grievous and Dooku as necessary actions in the service of the greater good: the protection of their sovereignty and their representation.
    Indeed, I find this interpretation of the Republic to be far more interesting than a galaxy spanning, centralized power structure. It explains the Republic's failings, the existence of entities like the Hutts, the Hapans, and others, the lack of Republic influence on worlds like Geonosis or Tatooine, and many other such things. And it makes the Clone Wars a far more interesting affair, as well as adding additional weight to the appointment of regional Governors in Revenge of the Sith and the dissolution of the Senate in A New Hope. The Clone Wars sees the conquest of the Galaxy by the Sith Empire, largely without a shot being fired. The dissolution of the Senate is merely the final formality, the final tone of the death rattle of planetary sovereignty. And with that context, it is small wonder that so many were willing to fight so hard against the Republic and the Empire.

    • @ZKP314
      @ZKP314 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      This was very enlightening

    • @nicholaswalsh4462
      @nicholaswalsh4462 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@ZKP314 thank you. I think it's an interpretation that is well supported by on-screen evidence and that I haven't seen put forward anywhere else.

  • @tonyjohnsen3160
    @tonyjohnsen3160 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Me as a 8 year old «Star Wars yay! Lightsabers go pchhhhhh»
    Me now: ah yes the ruling counsel

  • @rejvaik00
    @rejvaik00 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    I got to tell you a republic lasting for 25,000 years before turning into an empire is actually pretty dang good streak of time

    • @CoreysDatapad
      @CoreysDatapad  2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      They had multiple periods of turning into Empires or Empire-adjacent entities, so they cheated a fair bit.

    • @cageybee7221
      @cageybee7221 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@CoreysDatapad france moment

    • @tbotalpha8133
      @tbotalpha8133 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I'm inclined to believe that the Republic "actually" existed some fraction of of that length of time. 25,000 years seems really stupid, like the original writers just had no sense of how long that would actually be. Humans here on Earth have only been engaging in agriculture for 10,000 years. The Galactic Republic has supposedly existed for 2.5x as long as that.
      I could see 1000 years being reasonable - the Roman Republic and Empire lasted about that long, if you include the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantines). And it's plenty of time for all sorts of disruptive events to occur, like sliding in and out of authoritarian states.

    • @MomoALTA
      @MomoALTA หลายเดือนก่อน

      i feel like they just forget mention coups or change of government, i think what they meant was the idea of the “republic” existed for 25,000 years. They are likely successor state claiming to be the republic (like irl the “roman successors” which include alot of countries that i will not list)

  • @catmonarchist8920
    @catmonarchist8920 2 ปีที่แล้ว +215

    It's basically if the Weimar Republic was unicameral and fully parliamentary. The hodge-podge representatives based on ancient history rather than population and being sometimes appointed rather than directly elected (like the US pre 17th amendment) is like their upper house and the rest is basically ran as their lower house, including having the head of government named Chancellor rather than prime minister.
    Makes sense from the 'rise of national socialism' parallels

    • @johnmascola3403
      @johnmascola3403 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      You forgot the the word, Unitary. It gave permission to local sectors of space, not whole worlds or even the species of life, to have representation from their own populations. This is called Devolution.

    • @catmonarchist8920
      @catmonarchist8920 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      @@johnmascola3403 so baffling that a galaxy spanning government would be a unitary state. There are cries for federalism in the UK and we're 67 million.

    • @johnmascola3403
      @johnmascola3403 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@catmonarchist8920 I think the creator of Star Wars wanted to create an idea where a unitary galactic government, so Big with powers not to be shared by the minor political units within itself, just like your analogy from the former Weimer Republic. From there a Dictator would eventually rise to power. If you want my opinion, Britain should be a Federation of Nations within Your Kingdom. Not like an American federal system but one that is distinctive from the rest. as an American, our Federalist structure is, Far from being perfect, but it works

    • @catmonarchist8920
      @catmonarchist8920 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@johnmascola3403 the Weimar Republic itself was federal and was consolidated and made effectively unitary by the NAZIs later on. I remember that the NAZIs and communists worked together in 1931 to try to overthrow the social democratic government of Prussia and that would've been big because of the number of seats it had in the upper house and was half the population.
      The UK is smaller than many American states and is insanely urbanised. Any push to federalism would create the need to destroy our ancient constitution. It would only be to appease the Scottish nationalists who are never appeased no matter what powers you give them (and they won't use them anyway and neglect things to blame Westminster) because that's their purpose and federalism would make the northern Ireland situation much much worse. It's like rewriting the US Constitution completely to stop Mississippi from seceding. It's just not worth it. Scotland are 5 million of 67 million and often have more deaths than births. They're ageing and emigrating so their political class look outward to try start a fight rather than deal with their severe problems at home (like the worst drug deaths in Europe). They can secede if they want for all I care.
      I live in Wales and the urban areas basically cross the border in places and the rail system is one don't need more headache on the border here.
      I think people in the same state should have the same rights wherever they live.

    • @johnmascola3403
      @johnmascola3403 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@catmonarchist8920 You're Right.

  • @MatticusSama
    @MatticusSama 2 ปีที่แล้ว +89

    I love videos like this. It is interesting to see how authors of various books had such different outlooks on how the government of the Republic would work, and how that leads to a bit of clashing lore at times.

  • @thesinfultictac5704
    @thesinfultictac5704 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    This is interesting contrast to the United Federation of Planets from Star Trek.
    As even though the UFP is federal constitutional republic with certain rights and powers enumerated in the UFP charter and constitution ( though only a few of them are actually talked about in any length in a few pieces of media)
    The biggest being membership.
    No caste system, must have FTL capabilities, must have a unified world government that represents the majority of the population, must be willing to share tech and science, must allow recruiting for Star Fleet; must believe in Justice, liberty, equality, and peace; and I might be missing a couple.
    In contrast the Old Republic (especially after its formation in the Great Hyperspace War) routinely invaded planets that had never achieved FTL and either purposely or accidentally colonized the population.
    Admittance to the UFP is rigorous and members have to be a democracy of some kind. Whereas with the Galactic republic doesn't really care if the members states are practicing democracy at home.
    The biggest is that each member of the UFP is it's own nation-state, more akin to the UN in certain respect, leaving the governing of each planet (and its colonies) to its local population. Though each citizen of the UFP is both a citizen of its world and the UFP.

  • @ninja011
    @ninja011 2 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    In many ways, the Galactic Republic reminds me of the structure of The Dutch Republic, under the United Provinces before Napoleon, With the Senate being closer to an Estates-General in function and design.

  • @philloraptor8205
    @philloraptor8205 2 ปีที่แล้ว +48

    I've been really looking forward to this video and it turned out great! It helped bring some clarity to one part where I had always some issues (namely the extent of who a single senator represents).

  • @cioccolata3165
    @cioccolata3165 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I always think about how many of the people in the most important positions in the senate must be of almost superhuman intelligence, charisma and political talent as they are literally the best candidates in thousands of star systems. Assuming that the best candidates are chosen, of course. I mean, look at Palpatine. He's perfect for politics. He's charismatic, highly intelligent, ruthless with his enemies and supposedly fiercly loyal with his friends.
    Edit: I'm talking about Star Wars specifically, so I don't think that ruthlessness is needed for a good politician in our world.

    • @creed8712
      @creed8712 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Palpatine in his actual political work outside of his schemes was basically just a centrist who never stirred anything up that wasn’t already heading in a certain direction. That’s how he got elected because basically nobody had enough beef with him since he kinda stayed out of everyone’s business unless it was directed towards him

  • @gabrielbrito2120
    @gabrielbrito2120 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I kinda love that corporate personhood and government representation in the Star Wars Universe is directly related to a evil bald guy setting off a gigantic magic thought bomb that killed a bunch of people.

  • @adamjensen5891
    @adamjensen5891 2 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    Really enjoyed this Corey, the politics and economics was one of my favorite elements of the prequels. I’d love more of this stuff!

  • @qliphalpuzzle5453
    @qliphalpuzzle5453 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    That’s why I kinda appreciate some of the later legends novels when it went with some the minutia of the new republic/galactic alliance and how it had to deal with the monolithic task of thousands to higher worlds (I’m pointing towards the Thrawn Duology and the slavery debate in the Fate of the Jedi books) and how they conflict with each other.

  • @crestonchi5427
    @crestonchi5427 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Darth Plagueis novel has a lot of the political background in it.

  • @TheTbenvick
    @TheTbenvick 2 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    Someone's poly sci classes have found a use! 😂
    Really though, great deep dive into something that is normally not a feature in the :pew pew" lore of Star Wars!

  • @Thex-W.I.T.C.H.-xMaster
    @Thex-W.I.T.C.H.-xMaster ปีที่แล้ว +3

    In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society.....

  • @zweihundertneun6420
    @zweihundertneun6420 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    I really like the video, maybe you could do a more in-depth video about the differences between the Galactic Republic and the New Republic or Jedi Order and the New Jedi Order. Because I always start wondering when I read or hear something about the politics of star wars, why would the rebels even want to restore the republic and not replace the empire by something else? Especially the depiction of the Galactic Senate as corrupt in the prequels and the clone wars show, makes the galactic civil war seem more like a coup d'etat lead by disempowered senators, and less like an uprising of the oppressed population fighting for their freedom, which was certainly not intended.

    • @matthiuskoenig3378
      @matthiuskoenig3378 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      In real life oppressed people's don't really rebel without the support of the rich (be they native or foreign) they useually just suck it up and carry on.

  • @falsehero2001
    @falsehero2001 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    6:16 That time Star Wars turned into Warhammer 40,000.

  • @cageybee7221
    @cageybee7221 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    it's genuinely a miracle that there wasn't a seperatist uprising before palpatine, what a fucking mess.

  • @lynngreen7978
    @lynngreen7978 2 ปีที่แล้ว +37

    A possible way to illustrate the senate's representation would be the US House of Representatives. When first established, it was one Representative per 30,000 people (minimum of one per state). Which means we should have about 11,000 (an average of 220 per state). New York City alone would have 279 Representatives. Instead, now we have 435, with the number per state allocated by percentages. A more manageable number.

    • @fluffly3606
      @fluffly3606 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      The House of Representatives is a very bad example; Galactic Senate representation appears to be allocated arbitrarily rather than by anything as solid as population. It's more like if the Senate regularly redefined state borders according to their own, if any, rules.

  • @infinitecanadian
    @infinitecanadian 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    So they basically had a kilobyte of senators (1024).

    • @ThatCamel104
      @ThatCamel104 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Yup. That feels on purpose.

  • @clarkstartrek
    @clarkstartrek 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Thousands of Outer Rim Planets didn't even know what the Galactic Republic even was.
    For Thousands of Years!
    Until The Galactic Empire was declared by
    Emperor Palpatine.

  • @NicoleMay316
    @NicoleMay316 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    A lot of people hate that the prequels focused too much on politics, but you gotta remember, the Republic didn't collapse overnight, as much as it may have seemed that way. Palpatine just delivered the final blow, and even planted the seeds early on.
    Clone Wars proved politics episodes can work REALLY well.

  • @bchristian85
    @bchristian85 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I think the United Nations is probably the most similar thing to the Republic on the planet. I would assume most planets in the Republic, at least prior to the Clone Wars era, would have considered themselves citizens of their planet before citizens of the Republic. We are in an isolationist and nationalist era of world history so the UN has very little power right now, but should global affairs change it could become a lot more relevant.
    The Republic's transition to empire would be if suddenly the UN raised an army of it's own, conducted a war which ended in it's Secretary General becoming Emperor and a police state enforced by UN troops in all countries.

  • @christopherwilliams7845
    @christopherwilliams7845 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    Awesome video Corey, by far one of the best Star Wars documentaries on the site. Personally I believe that the Republic would have been best organized with a mixture of EU level sovereignty and American Federalism, with powers lying within the Sectors and Systems and the Republic acting as a mediator and provide for common defense and trade instead of direct rule from Coruscant. Also if you wanted a really good example of a federal state with a horrible structure of representation and sovereignty, the Holy Roman Empire is a great real life example. Hundreds of states in a confusing mush of borders, sovereignty, and accountability.

    • @matthiuskoenig3378
      @matthiuskoenig3378 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Nope the holy roman empire is a poor example as it is more of an alliance than an actual state.

    • @MohamedRamadan-qi4hl
      @MohamedRamadan-qi4hl 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      The holy Roman empire lasted 600 years........ It was clearly doing something right

    • @StarboyXL9
      @StarboyXL9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl From a utilitarian POV sure. Not so much from a "QOL of the avg inhabitant of its territories"

  • @kiaser21
    @kiaser21 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I can't even listen to this video without getting confused when he says "the senate", as I immediately wonder if he's referring to Palpatine.

  • @apok1980
    @apok1980 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    While all make believe, I think something that big will always implode or explode. What about a federation of republics. So a sector of like 30 planets would be a republic. The republic would exercise more governance impacting citizens. But as part of the federation, you have federation laws and are limited in foreign policy outside of the federation. Republics would send a delegation to the federation.

  • @tomcross3000
    @tomcross3000 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    the imperial ruling council is like a ministerial cabinet, and its weird how the members are selected- presumably you don't need to be an elected official, or senator, or planet/sector representative or even a military officer, you can just be a corporate board member or have a strong family or powerful connections, at least in the empire. maybe some of that corruption started in the classic republic too however.
    legislation introduced in the senate by senators or reps would likely fall under private member's bills, to be shelved for future discussion after matters of urgency or current bills on the floor.
    interestingly i don't think political parties exist in the senate, rather committees or delegations instead
    would love a breakdown of star trek's UFP

  • @PaxTubeChannel
    @PaxTubeChannel 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The idea that an entire planet could be represented by just 1 person is insane. Imagine Earth trying to decide who its representative should be.

    • @corruptangel6793
      @corruptangel6793 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Well, we're far more divided than most worlds in SW. Very few worlds (that I can think of at least) had more than 2 or 3 major factions. Having so many worlds exist beyond yours probably does wonders for unifying nations.

  • @graye2799
    @graye2799 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    In the words of GO-TO: "it's a wonder the republic is intact at all".

  • @Kleavers
    @Kleavers 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I always thought the Senate was more akin to the United Nations. The Republic probably can't really control the entire galaxy like a nation would, so I assumed it was more like a very very loose federal system.

  • @eamon821
    @eamon821 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Are there any examples of sectors have a sector legislature similiar to U.S states or Canadian provinces? Or are they just administrative?

  • @chrisreilly1290
    @chrisreilly1290 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    a sectoral government would make great sense, otherwise one planet could have day over several star systems in the same sector. and as you get out to the outer rim, this problem would increase. the reason I think the outer rim would have more star systems per sector is due to how the republic was built similar to the USA. early on in the USA, you had towns only as far apart as you could travel in a day. thud much more densely packed. as you move out west, transportation went from on foot, to horses, to trains, to cars. so the distance between towns grow much bigger and states are gigantic. for the republic, we have gone from planetary travel, to interplanetary, to interstellar, and eventually hyperdrive tech. Anyway, if there is no sectoral gov't, that would explain why so many systems broke off during the clone wars, even within same sectors.

  • @noriyakigumble3011
    @noriyakigumble3011 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    While it can’t really compare to how Cerebral shows like Star Trek or ASOIAF can get, people really sleep on how interesting Star Wars politics are

  • @mutombocamerun6663
    @mutombocamerun6663 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    How Palpatine works*

  • @DeanmC261993
    @DeanmC261993 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Yes! I’ve always wanted a video breaking all this down 💜

  • @TheSuperRatt
    @TheSuperRatt 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Honestly, the Republic's problem of representation is that it became WAY too huge. It should have broken itself into a Federation of smaller unions. But then the rich and powerful would have less power over other people's lives...

    • @pristinebiscotti5816
      @pristinebiscotti5816 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      A Federation of Free Alliances if you will...

    • @ZKP314
      @ZKP314 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Corporate Unions: I will pay you to not Balkanize.

  • @dannyfalcon9890
    @dannyfalcon9890 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Bro pulled out a term from Arend Lijphart’s: Patterns of Democracy and I was shook. Love that he used some actual political science terminology!

  • @Т1000-м1и
    @Т1000-м1и 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    First half of the video is amazing, then it loses a bit of focus

  • @Т1000-м1и
    @Т1000-м1и 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Cheers from Ukraine at 2:22. Here when 40.2k subs