New Order

The New Order, also called the New Imperial Order and the New Era of Power, was the official political ideology and secular state religion adopted by the Galactic Empire, and was upheld by COMPNOR. It was formally established on 16:5:23 GrS via the Declaration of a New Order.

Terminology

The term New Order appeared to be based on the use of the term "Old Order" to represent the Galactic Republic. During the Mandalorian Wars, Mandalore the Ultimate and his Neo-Crusaders intended to conquer Republic space and establish a New Order. The term had also been used earlier by members of the Separatist Council to describe the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

History

The New Order has its origin in the Declaration of a New Order by which Palpatine established the Empire in 19 BBY. It endured, with and without Palpatine, in one form or another, for nearly 50 years. That it lasted this long is no credit to Palpatine, for in the end it had never truly been intended to operate without him; it fell to others—to Gilad Pellaeon-to try to find a new relevance for it.

Ideology

The New Order arose as a result of the failures of the Galactic Republic (in particular the usage of "everyone is right" democracies), which was decentralized and often found ineffectual in resolving disputes between its more powerful members. The Empire was championed as a strong unifying solution to this problem. It criticized the perceived decadence and weakness of the Republic and advocated an authoritarian and militaristic social and political culture. It promised to trade frailty for strength, chaos for order, and uncertainty for decisiveness. As such, they also made sure that there was no question whatsoever as to who was in charge, in order to ensure that there was no grandstanding careerism among senators. Leia Organa, however, claimed that this ultimately resulted in those doing the grandstanding careerism to be replaced with moffs and admirals.^[2]

Military Supremacism

Main article: Imperial Military

The military was massively built up and reinforced. They were also taught to always be on the alert of danger to the Empire, either within or without, and to respond with a swift, merciless retribution.^[2] Not only that, but their position and role in society was constantly exalted by propaganda, that promoted members of the armed forces as selfless heroes and the epitome of the Imperial new man, with military values such as obedience to the hierarchy, aggressive decisiveness and masculinity were made national values and young human men were repeatedly encouraged to join^[4], being promised higher education and economic opportunities and the ability to leave peripheral and impoverished planets for adventure and ascendancy. A strong sense of cohesion in identity permeated the armed forces (as well as the moffs, surveillance agencies and all the administrative-repressive appararus, in spite of the constant in-fighting for career advancement, as humans and near-humans (and a few non-humans) from all corners of the Galaxy were meshed up ans demanded to oppress and fight their own citizens, leading them to identify primarily as Imperial rather than from their individual planets (this also furthered humanocentrism as a mechanism of bonding between different human planets).

This military nationalism contributed to the conception of the soldier as the perfect new man (loyal to Imperial Civilization before his petty local origins) and to the depersonalization of civillians, treated (especially in the Rims) by many soldiers as occupied people of an inferior status and all potentially aiding murderers of good army patriots more than as citizens they had a responsibility to protect. Part of this was possibly inherited by the Judicial Forces from which most of the high ranking officers came (such as Wilhuff Tarkin and Wulf Yularen) and the Tarkin family had long led a militarist and (unofficially) human supremacist bloc asking to blend them with planetary defense to create a Republic military, but it was brought to the extreme, as Imperial narration cast remilitarization as a palingenesis of the decadent and divided Republic away from indecisive senatorial squabbling in favour of strong leadership, and admirals and colonels saw themselves as the "adults in the room" that had put to bed the bickering children. Whereas behaviours like human supremacy, classism or sexism softened under the Imperial Remnant by sheer necessity, the direct leadership by the officers instead of the Emperor and his Ruling Council made for an even greater consolidation of this sentiment, only later brought under control by the Fel (replacing military rule with the principle of the Dinasty and the Council of Moffs) and again brought forward by Darth Krayt (who justified his coup with the Sith's accomplishments in war and considered the consultative rule of the Fel a betrayal of what the New Order stood for).

Pan-Galactic Nationalism

The development of the New Order as an ideology occurred most quickly during the Clone Wars and thus, before the Jedi Purge, the primary force it defined itself against during that period was the Separatists. Republic loyalists (even later ant-Imperial ones) believed that Galactic institutions were sacred and brought justice and representation to all people, thus condemning any secession. In the Declaration of the New Order, Palpatine accused the Separatists (whom he went on to allege were controlled by the Jedi) of having fomented resentment in order to saw division, cause war and destroy the Galactic "way of life"^[5]. Planetary forces were abolished and the administration became highly centralized, arguing that only this would have brought true unity and prevented a split Galaxy. Furthermore, Palpatine considered beings that did not live in the Empire/Republic as "barbarians" who needed to be civilised by colonization and being brought inside the state, something echoed by the likes of Tarkin when he suggested the campaign to pacify the Outer Rim should not stop on the known frontier.

Such sentiments declined in the Remnant, as the Empire itself was no longer the main Galactic state, and remained only in ardent nostalgics or in the brief periods of Imperial hegemony such as after the Sith-Imperial War, as well as in the form of a paranoid fear of extra-Galactic creatures following rbe Yuuzhan Vong invasions (a post-traumatic sentiment shared in the Alliance).

Male chauvinism

The New Order's ideology was a pervasively male chauvinist, possibly due to its military origins. The armed forces were almost entirely male—first because their earliest members were so and later because of deliberate exclusion. Likewise were most of the Emperor's advisors. However, there were notable exceptions such as Admiral Natasi Daala. Later though, during the days of the Imperial Remnant, women were just as important as they were in the New Republic. Male chauvinism would later rear its head again, especially as the Council of Moffs saw that Marasiah Fel was to become the next ruler of the Fel Empire.

This argument, however, has been often countered with the fact that the Imperial military is made up of clones who came from male DNA, thus countering accusations of sexism and replacing it with the fact the Empire wanted members who had unquestioning loyalty like the clones had. Another argument made against the allegation of misogyny, made by the female stormtrooper Isila Drutch, was that the female physiology was such that women simply were more likely to wash out of stormtrooper training on Carida than males, especially when Stormtrooper training itself was notoriously brutal as it was. Drutch also implied that, at least in the case of the Stormtrooper Corps, it was only assumed there were no women in the branch due to the design of the stormtrooper armor being such that it would have been impossible to determine the stormtrooper's gender.^[6] In addition, Leia when recalling the events of the Liberation of Coruscant, more specifically the aftermath of their storming the Imperial Palace, implied that there were some staff at the palace that were female besides the Emperor's concubines.^[7]

Culture

The culture of New Order proponents was ascetic and minimalist, as it was believed that bare essentials were the core of efficiency, with the framework reduced to the essence. These aesthetics were encouraged throughout the galaxy by the Coalition for Progress, an arm of COMPNOR. During its short existence, the Empire was not particularly brutal in the suppression of artistic culture, as it was primarily interested in military and political dominance. However, pressures from the New Order left their mark on the art of the Imperial period. In addition, any artists that exhibited subversive tendencies were often required to undergo the necessary re-education, with Leia also remarking that any government, regardless of how many battles it won, that would not tolerate criticism was inherently feeble.^[2]

Despite this, there existed a glaring dichotomy in Imperial culture. On one hand, there was certainly a change from the artistic vibrancy of the Galactic Republic. On the other, the privileged élites of the Core Worlds that formed the ruling class of the Empire often attended soirées, fêtes, and balls. These fortunate few enjoyed a charmed existence under the Empire where Human-produced operas and artwork presented a sort of intellectual renaissance, at the expense of non-Human or politically "subversive" art.

It was believed that only the upper crust of galactic society was suited for the rigors of command, so a disproportionate amount of the Imperial command staff came from privileged backgrounds. This led to a sharp contrast between the officer corps and the rank-and-file soldiers.

Another aspect of their culture was being Anti-Jedi and denouncing the use of the Force. Palpatine commissioned a loose organization of loyal Darksiders called the Dark Side Adepts, however, as a replacement for the now abolished Jedi Order and to make up for the lack of Sith Lords to do his bidding.

All of this changed during the days of the Imperial Remnant, however, when Imperial officers were selected from the more experienced veterans rather than galactic blue-bloods. This shift in command meant more sensible, tactically-minded decisions on the battlefield. In addition, Jedi were no longer hated as they once were. Though individual prejudices certainly existed, it was no longer law to despise Jedi or the Force. Eventually, this would lead to the formation of the Knights of the Empire.

Humanocentrism

The New Order was intrinsically tied to a Human-supremacist vision of society. Aliens were rarely accepted into formal Imperial organizations, droids even less frequently. They were also often the target of exclusionary policies, perhaps as a result of the stigma surrounding the alien-based Confederacy of Independent Systems and their droid army.

Officially, New Order proponents justified the subordinate status of non-Humans by suggesting that Human supremacy was needed in order to protect and govern them, specifically claiming that non-Humans, in particular those within the Rim, were unpredictable and prone to violent outbursts, citing the history of the Republic Senate as evidence to this.^[2] This marginalization explained why non-Humans rarely held positions of power: they were not technically barred but ostensibly were simply unfit for such positions. Theoretically, Imperial law made no distinction between Imperial citizens (Human or others), but the practice of Human High Culture belied such legal niceties.

In some cases, sentient aliens had been virtually exterminated by the Empire (infamously, the Empire occasionally used an ecological act permitting the eradication of dangerous species to justify military operations against sentient species). According to the Imperial Handbook, the orchestration of strategic extinctions was under extreme circumstances that was used in the interest of galactic security. This allowed aliens to be enslaved and put to work in mines and on the Death Star. Chewbacca worked under the Empire until Han Solo freed him from oppression. Another change was Humans were generally the only ones allowed in the military (notable exceptions included Grand Admiral Thrawn). Many planets were represented by Humans in the Imperial Senate prior to its deconstruction. Many species, including the Mon Calamari and the Bothans, joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic in response to their loss of rights and treatment. Despite this, however, Leia when recalling the events of the Liberation of Coruscant, more specifically the aftermath of their storming the Imperial Palace, implied that there were some staff at the palace that belonged to various alien species.^[7] After the fall of the Galactic Empire, the Remnant abandoned openly sanctioned speciesism altogether, thus potentially drafting the Rights of Sentience into the Imperial Charter. Droid rights were most likely brought up from an absolute no to a controversial maybe. By the time of the Second Imperial Civil War, Humanocentrism was however still present amongst the high ranks of the Imperial Military, as exemplified by Admiral Dru Valan, despite the new laws.

Anti-Jedi

In large part due to Order 66 and Operation Knightfall, the Empire also promoted anti-Jedi sentiment, and to a certain degree anti-Force User sentiment, often citing how the Jedi managed to be killed easily by clone troopers despite them being Force users as an example of how they were allegedly using scams. However, they do allow for Force users among them, so long as they pledged to employ them in full cooperation with the Emperor's wishes, and that any who don't were exterminated.^[2]

Economic practice

Following the Clone Wars, the Empire started a process of stabilization and expansion of the economy and of the role of the state within it, as part of Imperialization. The authonomous trusts and conglomerates that either single-handedly maintained or connected numerous corporations in order to maintain a monopoly status (megacorporations) and whose leaders had taken part to the Separatist Council were nationalized and/or dissolved (this included the shipping and exchange titan of the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guild, the negotiative Corporate Alliance and the industrial cartel Techno Union), with the exception of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, which had been pushed to put itself under fiduciary administration of the head of state already during the Clone Wars^[9]. This did not automatically translate to all member companies of the trusts, many of which had been key suppliers of the Grand Army of the Republic and went on to back the Empire (such as Kuat Drive Yards ^[10], which abandoned the Techno Union) or simply pldeged allegiance to the Emperor in the aftermath of the war (such as former Guild member SoroSuub Corporation ^[11]).

While the Imperial Period saw dramatic increases in state control and centralization of economic procedures, as long as they did not challenge the Emperor's authority, Galactic capitalists could greatly benefit from the New Order, in particular through state funded public and (especially) military contracts (such as KYD or Sienar Fleet Systems), protection from piracy and the repression by the Imperial Army of any unrest their practices may have caused among workers or the inhabitants of planets they influenced. These companies were also distributed many of the assents of pro-Separatist companies such as the Trade Federation^[12], for example to the shipping and retailoring giant TaggeCo, so close to the Empire as to be almost completely deprived of its assets by the New Republic. This harmony deteriorated during the Galactic Civil War as the Empire took more and more direct control, for example nationalizing the Fondor Shipyards, and was largely abandoned by the more stratocratic and desperate Imperial Remnant, at least until the Fel Empire and then Darth Krayt's regime ^[13]

The Galactic economy under the Empire was largely dependant on war, as Palpatine's invasive regime required the population to simultaneously feel thankfully secure and at risk of losing all security to justify the lack of liberties, and pro-Imperial corporations required military contracts to maintain their profits. This led to constant small wars on the Galactic frontier and to obsessive repression and demonization of even the smallest dissident activity and to impossibly expensive and overpowered investments in psychological warfare, notably the two Death Stars (meant to act as the ultimate deterrent), ironically contributing to the growth of Rebel activity as barely provoked Imperial atrocities (such as the murder of Luke Skywalker's adoptive uncle and aunt) and the neglect of common civillians to fund a overblown military (criticized by Mon Mothma^[14] ) created new insurgents.

Thanks to the state control and guarantee on the banks, the Emperor could order theoretically unlimited amounts of credits pressed to invest in these projects and also prevent it from circulating and causing too much inflation by having it kept storaged in fiscally privileged vault (an example is Yallow Industries, which found itself in possessione of a billionaire account thanks to Palpatine's Clone Wars era financial frauds and schemes), limited only by the need to keep the credibility of the currency.

While abolishing private armies and Independent corporate councils in most of the Galaxy, the New Order tolerated the Corporate Sector Authority within the Corporate Sector where unchecked and completely deregulated business could occur without interference and the government and law enforcement itself was transparently a belonging of shareholders. At the same time, the maintainance of the political and military elite's dominance took priority in the most struggling times and the Empire branded itself as fair and capable of bringing corporations under the rule of law, in contrast to the plutocratic Republic .^[2]

Governance

The governance of the New Order flowed top-down from the central authority. The Imperial Military was used to maintain order throughout the Empire.

Imperial Senate

The Imperial Senate acted as a transitional buffer between the Old Republic to the New Order, with it eventually being removed by 0 BBY. Most Senators cheered the Declaration of the New Order and the storm of amendments that preceded it, according to Mon Mothma because of opportunism, as they each believed Palpatine's rise to be inevitabile and would rather try to share in his power than risk trying preserving their own.

Redistricting of Imperial territory

The Oversectors were instituted to comprise of several smaller sectors, in order to ensure ease of various elements essential to the New Order, including direct command of the military forces, controlling information, and more efficient taxation of Imperial subjects, with Grand Moffs commanding each Oversector and Moffs administrating each smaller sector. Both the Moffs and Grand Moffs by consequence have direct political and military control over the territories.

Propaganda

In order to ensure the New Order was promulgated, COMPNOR was created to generate public support, as well as control over the culture and youth groups of the Empire, ensuring that the next generation would be indoctrinated with Imperial values. In addition, they also had direct control over the media HoloNets via Imperial HoloVision, eliminating their status as private entities, and had indirect control via political influence over unofficial entities such as TriNebulon News, Brentaal Trade News, and Core News Digest.

New Order supporters

At first, people of the Empire enthusiastically supported the vision outlined in the Declaration of a New Order, largely due to the violence that had plagued the galaxy for so long. Many Senators wholeheartedly supported the new government while a number of more cautious Senators chose to watch and wait to see how the new government would handle the affairs of state. Imperial citizens were encouraged to join COMPNOR. However, the New Order began to lose support as the Empire's authoritarian nature became increasingly public.

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references