New Order

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"The New Order does not exist to bring order to anything. It is not the bright strong energy that lifted us from the Clone Wars and the Republic's corruption. It's not the maker and the organizer and the fixer that you thought it was when you buttoned on your junior-officer uniform. […] The real purpose of the Empire is to give people like Vader the power to do anything they want. The bureaucracy, the ideology, the gleaming system we so admire—it accretes around that central core of cruelty solely because a bureaucracy allows us, the followers, to rationalize our participation through laws and protocols. […] There is no restraint or principle at the center of the New Order. And that is why people admire it. The Empire does all the things that people secretly believe should be done with power."
―Canonhaus thinks about the New Order[7]

The New Order was the official political ideology and atheistic state religion adopted by the First Galactic Empire, and was enforced by COMPNOR, with the Grand Architect of the New Order responsible for its political message.

History

"My son has a big mouth and is prone to outrageous speeches, but he's not a rebel. He'll see the value of the New Order when he grows older."
―Captain Hiram Zataire, to ISB Agent Alexsandr Kallus[8]

When Sheev Palpatine proclaimed himself Emperor in front of the whole Galactic Senate, he promised that his new regime would usher in a thousand years of peace by ending the corruption and ineptitude of the old political system of democracy.[6][9] Born out of the Galactic Republic's Commission for the Protection of the Republic, the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order bureau was established by the Empire.[3] An individual designated as the Grand Architect of the New Order, such as Governor Everi Chalis of the planet Haidoral Prime, helped to build out the New Order.[1]

Early into the Empire, a series of sub-commissions began blueprinting what role the "ideal" Imperial citizen would serve in a political religion that would come to be known as the New Order. The Empire's officious tone was appealing to dissatisfied youths who felt powerless and victimized. To them, the Empire offered a chance at retribution and an intoxicating brand of power.[10]

Ideology

"All you have to do is have faith! The Empire will come for us! That's our Emperor's promise. The promise of order throughout the galaxy. Freedom and protection for all."
―Stormtrooper TK-830, a true believer in the Empire[11]
The Galactic Empire wanted its citizens to define themselves by its existence instead of thinking of themselves as citizens of their homeworlds.

The Galactic Empire wanted its citizens to define themselves by its existence instead of thinking of themselves as citizens of their homeworlds.

The stated chief values of the regime were order, control, and the rule of law.[12] However, the Declaration of Rebellion issued by the Alliance to Restore the Republic against the Imperial regime invoked the language of law and democracy to assert that the Empire ruled via systematic oppression that imposed unjust laws without the consent of the governed. Other values included unity through civic pride, patriotism, militarism, and the supremacy of the state under a cult of personality for Emperor Palpatine—fascism.[10] The Empire's ideology also defined being an "Imperial" as its own personification and hoped to turn its recruits into individuals more interested in defining themselves by the Empire they existed under, instead of by the planetary cultures they hailed from.[13]

Xenophobia and humanocentrism were key points of New Order policy and were justified by Imperials as a natural extension of purported the human right to rule.[14] According to the Imperial ideology, the best way to protect one's homeworld was to strength the Empire it existed as part of.[13] The New Order enforced the supposed "natural hierarchy" of the galaxy, justifying the exploitation of worlds further out in the galaxy in the name of shipping their resources and wealth inward to Coruscant and other Core World planets.[15]

Canonhaus, an Imperial officer in the Empire's naval branch, came to believe that there was no desire for "order" at the heart of the New Order ideology. Instead, he came to realize the Empire and everything that made it up only existed to give figures like the Sith Lord Darth Vader the power to do whatever they so wished. Through the Imperial bureaucracy, any action the Emperor or Vader wished to carry out—no matter how cruel—could be justified by their followers, who would then follow the Sith Lords' command.[7] Stormtrooper TK-830 was a true believer in the Empire's promise of "order" and, even after being abandoned for several days, believed the Empire would look after him. According to TK-830, the Empire promised freedom and protection to everyone on the galaxy, something that fellow stormtrooper Hoyel—himself a secret rebel sympathizer—thought was ridiculous.[11]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Battlefront: Twilight Company
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tarkin
  4. ↑ Rebels-mini-logo Star Wars Rebels — "Empire Day"
  5. ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The Final Order" — From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back
  8. ↑ The Rebellion Begins
  9. ↑ Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Wolf Trap" — From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi
  12. ↑ Aftermath
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lost Stars
  14. ↑ Aftermath: Life Debt
  15. ↑ Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire