Where there are politics there are political parties, factions, and sub-factions which
shape the world, or in this case, the galaxy through movements, legislation, and reformations.
These political parties and factions also give us a better understanding of what the
common people of the galaxy believe and what they want from their public servants, as well
as what issues they agree and disagree on.
In Star Wars there are over 100 political parties, factions and sub factions recorded.
Because most of them are pretty vague in their descriptions and only appear once or twice
in isolated events, we’ll instead go over only the major ones from the galactic senate
within each era.
First we have the main political factions during the Republic prior to the separatist
crisis and eventual clone wars.
The two major factions of this time were the Core Faction and the Rim Faction.
The Core Faction composed of senators who were from the wealthy, Human dominated planets
and systems of the Core worlds sector of the galaxy.
Most of its members were Humans, and the faction worked towards increasing the Galactic Republic’s
central government as a means for it to have greater control over the outskirts of the
galaxy, especially the Outer rim.
A lot of its policies involved taxing and exploiting poor worlds of their resources
and bringing all the wealth to the center of the galaxy, while also implementing and
expanding strict regulations and laws on free trade in these same outer regions.
Notable members of this faction were Finis Valorum and Bail Antilles.
The Rim Faction was its biggest opposition.
The Rim Faction composed mainly of non-Human senators who represented the worlds and systems
from the Mid Rim and Outer Rim.
Once mega corporations were allowed to be represented as their own separate entities
within the senate, most of them joined the Rim Faction, including the Trade Federation
and Techno Union.
The Rim Faction was against the Republic’s central government from gaining more power
and they fought for less regulations and taxation.
They were also for open and free trade markets among their respective outlying systems.
Major members of this faction were Orn Free Taa and Nute Gunray.
Actually Palpatine was nominated by the Rim Faction during his run for Supreme Chancellorship.
Although he wasn’t apart of their faction, Palpatine did side with them on many policies
due to Naboo being in the Mid Rim.
They picked him because he was independent and had the best chance of winning when compared
to most of the other senators within the faction itself.
But Palpatine only used the Rim Faction as a means to gain power, as after he became
Supreme Chancellor he began to side more with the Core Faction and their policies.
When the Separatist Crisis started, many of the Rim Faction’s leaders and senators left
the Republic and joined the forming Confederacy of Independent Systems.
In response to the Rim Faction’s members leaving the Republic, a new faction was created
called the Loyalists Committee.
It included Senators who were completely devoted in preserving the Republic and wished to keep
the galaxy united.
Palpatine actually found this faction, promoting its creation as a means to combat corruption
and forming peace talks with disgruntled senators who had left the Republic.
However he of course manipulated it to instead increase tensions between both sides which
helped accelerate the start of the clone wars.
Bail Organa and Padme Amidala were notable members of this faction.
We also have the smaller Militarist faction within the senate around this time.
They were senators who supported the idea of the Republic rebuilding its army and navy
and for it to become a military power once again.
Although originally they didn’t have much support, they began to grow in size once more
and more conflicts began to arise in the outer rim that the Jedi couldn’t solve, as well
as when they began to embrace Humanist superiority ideals.
They were one of the biggest supporters of the Military creation act which created the
Grand Army of the Republic and authorized the use of the Clone Army.
A notable member of the Militarist faction was Ranulph Tarkin.
During the Clone Wars many new factions were formed as a response to the ongoing galactic
war.
One of the major factions was the Council of Neutral Systems.
They were senators and representatives who wished to have their worlds and systems be
neutral in the conflict between the Republic and the Separatists during the Clone Wars.
Over 1,500 star systems were apart of this organization, and it was led by Queen Satine
Kryze of Mandalore.
The other major faction to arise during the clone wars was the delegation of 2000.
It was made up of senators and representatives who opposed Palpatine’s increase in power
and abuse of emergency powers.
They feared that he was trying to undermine the Senate’s authority while in turn giving
himself as much power as possible.
They wished to protect the democratic elements of the Republic and to return its state back
to how it was before Palpatine took office.
Notable members of this faction were Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Jar Jar Binks and Padme
Amidala.
Once the Empire formed, 63 members of the Delegation of 2000 were arrested for suspected
treasonous actions, which resulted in half of its members to leave the faction out of
fear.
During the Empire’s reign, members of this faction were the biggest opponents of Emperor
Palpatine, with some of them eventually forming the Rebel Alliance.
In contrast to the Delegation of 2000, there was the New Order Party within the Imperial
senate which consisted of senators that supported Emperor Palpatine and all of his actions.
However it was eventually disbanded, along with every other political faction and party,
after the Imperial Senate was dissolved around 19 years after the Empire was created.
In the New Star Wars Trilogy, the New Republic is created after the fall of the Galactic
Empire.
With the New Republic came with a new galactic senate which had two major political factions:
the Centrists and the Populists.
The Centrists advocated for the expansion of the New Republic’s central government
and for a more connected galaxy.
Many senators of this faction came from the wealthier worlds of the galaxy.
They supported more funding for the New Republic military and even defended the old Galactic
Empire to some extent.
Actually there was a whole sub faction of Centrists that even admired the old empire
and wished to reimplement, in their words, the policies that actually worked from the
old empire.
They even fought for the New Republic’s military to look more like the Imperial military
from the past, as a means to give it a greater image of power and unity.
Despite their call for a more unified and connected galaxy, some Centrists believed
that individual planets should take more responsibility on fixing their own problems and to not greatly
depend on the New Republic’s assistance for every little issue they may have.
They also supported free trade among worlds.
The Populists on the other hand were opposed of strengthening the New Republic’s central
government and its military.
They believed in each planet being allowed more independence and given more freedom on
its decisions on how their people should live.
There was actually two extreme sub factions within the populists.
One sub faction wanted to essentially make the entire Republic into a direct democracy
by allowing the general public to directly vote on major decisions within the senate,
which would mean tens of trillions of citizens would be allowed to vote on major senate bills.
The other sub faction instead wanted to completely dissolve the senate and give full sovereignty
to all the planets, giving them full independence and freedom to do as they pleased.
Leia Organa was a major member of the Populist faction, though she was not a member of either
extreme sub factions.
However her political career in the senate was destroyed after it became public knowledge
that she was related to Darth Vader.
And those are the major political factions and parties of the Star Wars galaxy across
the 3 main eras.
Based on the summaries we gave of each faction, which one would you guys most likely support?
Let us know in the comments below!