Liberty Dies With Thunderous Applause
Analyzing Democratic Infrastructure and Religious Responses to Government in the Star Wars Prequels
Written by Anne Obuchi SJND ’25, Pilot Island Editor-in-Chief
Debate over the prequels has spanned long and dark. It spans galaxies — and more interestingly — entire lives. It crosses into unhealthy and cruel territory with fans’ attacks towards the actors and their abilities. In truth, the real crux of the issue is this: Star Wars fans, at heart, don’t want you to be a fan.
As people have always done with media, the audience adds and subtracts from the material. Inserting meaning where it isn’t, but could’ve been. Taking their own interpretation of characters and their values. The basis of any good English student; apophenia — how very human.
Similarly, Star Wars is more than just a space-cowboy Western illustrating the heroes’ journey to discovering the truth of their family. The themes are easily brushed off when consulting the nature of the nerdy, over commercialized, sci-fi series — but stories are here to learn from, no matter how old or odd or how out-of-this-universe they are. Mirroring past historical trends, in the Star Wars prequels, the Jedi Order, pre-Order 66, displays the odd relationship of religious sects and government, stressing the importance of separation of Church and State. In addition, the Star Wars universe displays various methods of how they handled modern geopolitical issues like corruption, threats of war, and citizens’ rights issues within planets of singular-governments, many of which parallel countries today.
History of the Jedi Order and their Republic-Relations
The Jedi Order, at the time we are introduced to it in the prequels, was established in 25,025 BBY, (Before Battle of Yavin, occuring in Star Wars: A New Hope with Luke’s destruction of the first Death Star) thousands of years before the rise of the Galactic Empire and Anakin Skywalker’s Fall in 19 BBY (taking place in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith). Originally, the Dai Bendu — the precursors to the Jedi — obtained access to Ilum, an ancient ice-encased planet littered with Kyber crystals, or lightsaber crystals. The Sith Order split off from the Jedi because of a schism caused by a rogue Jedi. Both the Jedi and Sith Orders live by moral codes that guide their wielding of the Force.
At the time of the prequels, Jedi Grand Temple on the Core World, Coruscant served as the hub of all Jedi activity in the galaxy and the capital of the Galactic Republic. The Temple was also a training school for younglings and Padawans, who learned the ways of the Force under the supervision of Jedi Masters or were sent to be reassigned to Jedi Service Corps if an initiate failed their Initiate Trials or was not selected by a Jedi Master (used terms include “aging out”). The Jedi Code governed the Order’s way of life and what they taught. Every Jedi was duty-bound to observe and uphold the Code or else risk being expelled from the Order.
The Jedi High Council, then, is relatively comparable to the Supreme Court — the Order’s highest governing authority, expected to be experienced and wise. Except, the council was led by the Grand Master, the leader of the Order and the wisest Jedi Master. Like if the Supreme Court was also led by the president. In most of Star Wars, Yoda serves as the Grand Master from 232 BBY to 19 BBY. A little over 200 years. Two hundred years is a little too long to be in power don’t you think? The Jedi Order is a pseudo-oligarchical gerontocracy, but debatably, so is America, so that can of worms can stay closed.
The Jedi Order’s biggest issue is its connection to the politics of the Galactic Republic. The separation of Church and State exists for a reason. In addition, the religion of the Jedi isn’t even the Republic’s “official” religion. In one scene, while talking to Count Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn, Plagueis’s civilian persona says that “the Jedi Order has cornered the market on ethics.” The Jedi Order is like one big continuous, very public, CIA-sting operation.
Meanwhile, the jury of “ethics of the Jedi Order” is still out. It has been since the early 2000s. Jedi’s policy of acquiring Force-sensitive children raises some eyebrows. Some children were taken away from bad situations, like Ahsoka Tano’s retrieval by Plo Koon from a slave ring, some are willingly given up, like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker, who’s situation stems from fear of re-enslavement. The idea of Jedi kidnapping children is a motif used in anti-Jedi sentiment in the books and movies. The Galactic Republic kind of lets the Jedi horde any Force-sensitive child that is given up to the Order explicitly, so it can be assumed they become wards of the Order, suggesting that the Jedi are state-adjacent. What is the policy of becoming a citizen of the Republic? Or when children enter protection of the Jedi Order, are they listed as Jedi on their paperwork?
So what is the Jedi Order? Is it equivalent to the Vatican? A religious sect that is employed by the united governments of multiple sovereign nations to battle against a seceded union, who’s also a rival religious sect, but secretly? The Jedi reason that they serve the Republic because the Jedi defend peace, but do they? On another hand, do the Jedi own Ilum? How do they justify to foreign governments that they give their trainees unmonitored and unrestricted access to weapons? The relationship of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic is convoluted and demonstrates why: We. Do. Not. Combine. Church. And. State.
In addition, the Jedi’s role as guardians of the Republic was poorly restricted in the Prequels. Their actions in the name of Republic-justice often border on treason or sedition to the law: Mace Windu’s immediate response to the suggestion that Chancellor Palpatine was the Sith Master was to assassinate him, despite that being Jedi or Sith are considered a religious faction, and according to the Republic, religion is not grounds for murder. Not to mention, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas commissioned a genetically modified clone army bred to serve the Republic, without monitoring or oversight. The Galactic Republic would see this act and employ the army of clones regardless of the fact that they were not citizens of the Republic, which gets into incredibly gray illegal territory. Another example would be how Obi-Wan “the Negotiator’’ Kenobi conducts diplomatic missions with foreign governments, despite never having served in government. His only experience in governing was that one time when he was abandoned on a planet and kickstarted a civil war where he led an army of children to overthrow their parents in the corrupt government of Melida/Daan, at thirteen years old. At this time, Obi-wan temporarily left the Order and was treated as an emancipated minor by the Jedi, despite the criteria of emancipation and self-sufficiency not being met (according to standards of the current US). Adding another odd nuance to the intricacies of the Jedi Order and their citizenship.
Years later, the Star Wars series Clone Wars dives into the politics of the Republic like never seen before. There’s massive amounts of corruption in the Order, especially prevalent during the Clone Wars. Pong Krell, for example, a pseudo-general during the Clone Wars, faces absolutely no investigation upon the revelation of incredibly high troop casualties. Investigation by the Council would have stopped his little habit of having his soldiers sacrifice themselves unnecessarily by purposely giving them bad info. Ahsoka’s trial would be another example of the way the democratic process is disrupted by the lingering fear of war and uprisings. She is framed for a bombing of a Jedi temple and is charged with sedition and terrorism. Admiral Tarkin tells the Jedi Council that she must be expelled from the Order to face military trial, implying that being a Jedi during the war gives her some sort of immunity to the Senate. Her trial before the Council, prior to her military trial, should be offered the rights of any trial under any republic. Even though the Jedi are a religious sect, their position as military for a “republic” provides them the rights of one. The right to a fair and impartial trial with an attorney to defend your rights. Nothing about it is impartial. Obi-Wan Kenobi served on the High Council and was part of her Jedi lineage, but also served beside her in battle. Plo Koon brought Ahsoka into the Temple from slavery and shows fondness for her in the show. Ahsoka is not represented by anyone in the Jedi trial, but is represented by Padme in her military trial (who doesn’t have a license to practice law, but whatever I guess). ‘She could be guilty,’ the Jedi Council might’ve well said, ‘so she is.’
War is war is war — often robbing the people of their personal liberties and sometimes — your basic rights. War is war is war — it has a tendency to behave that way, to turn you into the thirteen year old girl who unexpectedly finds herself having to kill or be killed, but labeled as a traitor in the end, regardless.
Historical Significance of the Separation of Church and State
Why should Church and State be separated? As an American– this is kind of a cop-out question. Religion has no business in government; government has no business in religion.
The idea of this separation originated between two men: Roger Williams, a Puritan minister who traveled to America, and John Locke, a famous Enlightenment thinker in the 17th century. Both argued that religion was a right of conscience and that the definition of a Church — as a voluntary body of worshippers — could not possibly extend to a governing body. In the USA’s past, multiple movements were instigated by religious revival and their concern over social morality. The Temperance Movement, education and asylum reform, and even abolitionism. Religious reasons for reform are not, by nature, bad. It skews both ways. But religious reform is vastly different from religious tampering in politics.
Separation of Church and State is necessary for a pluralistic society, one that believes that religion is an individual, private choice and a fundamental right, Preventing unequal promotion of religions on state-grounds. Not just in the American government either. In Islamic history, state and religion were separated very early on because of irritation at the state funds Muslim scholars received. Similarly, in China, during the Han dynasty, the official state religion was Confucianism, which largely influenced social norms, thereby, influencing much of the laws on appropriation. After multiple revolutions in China, the 1954 draft of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, solidified what a regime in China should look like. In it, religion was stated to be “No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion.”
In Star Wars, this sentiment is mirrored, emphasized doubly by the presences of different species within the galaxy. Each planet has different laws for different peoples, it’s the same way on Earth too. Not many other religions are depicted in this universe though. Outside of the Jedi and Sith Orders, or their failed splinter-groups, many of the other mentioned religions are animistic and unmentioned. The Earthly-situation isn’t even a possible comparison. Human’s don’t know of any definitive mystic power and therefore go about believing anything. As a pluralistic world, separation of Church and State is a necessity.
How to Lie About a Citizen’s Basic Rights to Their Face
Democracy is no delusion — it breathes life into the united and its existence in nature comforts the children of man as a whole.
Democracy requires a set of fundamentally accepted norms. Who better to look to for requirements on the democratic rights of humans except for the UN! According to the UN, these are:
- Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
- Freedom of association
- Freedom of expression and opinion
- Access to power and its exercise in accordance with the rule of law
- The holding of periodic free and fair elections by universal suffrage and by secret ballot as the expression of the will of the people
- A pluralistic system of political parties and organizations
- The separation of powers
- The independence of the judiciary
- Transparency and accountability in public administration
- Free, independent and pluralistic media
Despite it being called the “Galactic Republic,” and the numerous talks about allegiances “to democracy,” there isn’t an established planetary republic in the Star Wars universe. A republic, according to Oxford, is “a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.” However, the Galactic Republic has senators nominated democratically in most cases, as in, by the citizens of the planet.
Naboo, Toydaria, Alderaan, Zygerria, and Mon Cala were all ruled by king or queen, Mandalore was ruled by a duchess (RIP Satine). Some of the monarchies aren’t appointing senators, some are members of the aristocracy or even the royal family, like Bail and Leia Organa. The Galactic Senate, not just the Republic, the actual legislative branch, allows megacorporations to be represented, like the Trade Federation, who served as the galaxy’s shipping and trade conglomerate. Their ability to force entire planets into contracts and impose blockades would be seen as treason in our world today. It’s the equivalent of FedEx being in the UN, owning an armed militia, and seizing the entire country of Poland, starting a war.
That’s exactly the situation that Naboo finds themselves in with the Battle of Naboo. The Galactic Republic is completely inept at handling possibilities of warfare, aiding other governments, and fails to follow their own laws. They are unconcerned with basic civil rights, possible power vacuums, or proper conduction of governing bodies. For example, in Star Wars: Phantom Menace, when the Trade Federation threatens Naboo over the new Republic taxation policy, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Finis Valorum sent two Jedi ambassadors — Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi — to attempt to peacefully resolve the issue. Newly elected 14-year-old Queen Padme Amidala, her guards, and her handmaiden look-alikes flee to Coruscant, an inner-Core planet both the home of the Jedi and the Republic’s capital. Amidala petitioned the Galactic Senate for assistance, but the Senate was gridlocked. Naboo’s representative in the Senate, Senator Sheev Palpatine, persuaded Amidala to call a Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum. He is voted to be removed from his position and no aid is sent.
Padme returned to Naboo accompanied by her handmaidens and the Jedi, determined to free her world herself. Forming an alliance with Naboo’s native Gungans, who the Nabooians had persecuted and stolen land from, the 14-year-old girl queen launched the first attack, starting the Battle of Naboo. Amidala personally arrested the Trade Federation leader and signed a treaty ending the blockade and any attacks. After the Battle of Naboo, Padme nominates Palpatine as Chancellor, where he is voted in shortly after, despite some of the dubious situations surrounding the election.
Oddly, Padme Amidala was the only person who had the power to sign the treaty with the Federation, no other official could. There is no mentioned chain of succession in her absence, no one even attempts to step up against the Trade Federation in her steed. Instead of a council or an adjacent group of advisors, there is nobody mentioned with the power to keep the ruler of Naboo in check. No governing committee to greet her in return to Naboo, no balance of powers, no checks and balances, none. Based on hints in dialogue from Padme Amidala,the Organa’s legislative meetings on their planets are akin to war council meetings without representatives from non-capital cities. Characters like Padme Amidala, Leia Organa, Mon Mothma, and Luke Skywalker exemplify this Greek-mythical concept of heroic leadership. Where there is no balance of powers, only accountability and self control.
In Review
Star Wars prequels are arguably, hot trash. Arguably, that’s the best part. Regardless, this space-cowboy Western kicks off its prequel series with complex government relations and extreme amounts of worldbuilding. Mirroring past historical trends, in the Star Wars prequels, the Jedi Order, pre-Order 66, displays the odd relationship of religious sects and government and how they affect the Jedi Order. In addition, the Star Wars universe displays various methods of how they handled modern political and social issues like fundamental rights, the intricacies of democratic processes, threats of war, and corruption. What we should take from this display is to not do what they did.
SJND Pilot Island Editorial Staff 2024–2025:
Editor-in-Chief: Anne Obuchi ‘25:
News Editors: Jaslyn Ho ’26 and Jeanette McClure ‘27
Features Editors: Naomi Seche ’26 and Anabel Arista ‘27
Opinion Editors: Nicolaus Thyen ’27 and Victor Pham ‘27
Reviews Editor: Austin Ly ‘27
Sports Editors: Jayla Anderson ’27 and Jeremiah Myers ‘27
