Philosophy Governing The Star Wars Galaxy

[ShieldWife]

ShieldWife wouldn't allow a situation like the completely impossibly anemic military power of the Old Republic to happen.

If you have an actual functional military, even a modest one, any Mega-corps getting delusions of grandeur and siccing pirates on people would be ruthlessly and summarily crushed.

I would hope so, that is the idea. Assuming I rule the galaxy, I need a naval force large enough to quash any mega-corp who gets out of line. In fact, with the way I intend on approaching things, big foes will be crushed by the navy but smaller smugglers will be more problematic. Which is why working with the corporations, as above, might be the way to do it.

 

[LordsFire]

I would hope so, that is the idea. Assuming I rule the galaxy, I need a naval force large enough to quash any mega-corp who gets out of line. In fact, with the way I intend on approaching things, big foes will be crushed by the navy but smaller smugglers will be more problematic. Which is why working with the corporations, as above, might be the way to do it.

You wouldn't want to give any megacorp regional monopolies, that'd end horribly.

Requiring a corp be properly registered to be permitted to compete as part of interstellar trade, and thus giving you a controlling monopoly on who does and does not trade, that works much better.

Letting the corps pay themselves for police action to catch smugglers would help defray costs, but you'd still absolutely need to control the courtrooms those smugglers are tried within. Letting the corps keep either the ship or cargo of caught smugglers should help provide incentive, but stiff fines if they're caught trying to frame someone would also be necessary.

The fact that only licensed people are allowed extra-system trade would substantially help.


How would you handle passenger transport and personal travel?

 

[Navarro]

That is what I am trying to figure out with my post. Is there anything besides a ham fisted galactic empire that has even a chance of managing the entire galaxy? All super large galactic governments seem to devolve to this, cough, looking at you 40k, cough. I do strongly agree with the usurp comment regarding humans. This is shown after the Emperor's death in Legends and Cannon and just plain human nature. Even if only one percent of system groups rebel, you are talking ~10 rebellions.

Even the Imperium of Man from 40k is more of a feudal confederation than a top-down centralised state.

 

[LordsFire]

Even the Imperium of Man from 40k is more of a feudal confederation than a top-down centralised state.

And it suffers constant rebellions and infighting. Even at that, it's implausibly coherent.

 

[Deleted member 88]

If I were the Galactic Empress (are there any empresses from science fiction?) I would try to allow individual planets or systems to have autonomy. Let the local planet rule itself how it sees fit. The local government, what ever it may be, can handle how to deal with relations between Wookies or Hutts or what ever creatures exist there. What I want from them is taxation. The taxes should be as small as I can get away with, but even a Galactic Empire needs resources and for a planet to be part of it, it must supply those resources.

I wouldn't demand much from the planets, but of course what I do demand must be supplied. I was thinking that local planets and local economies can operate relatively freely but that I establish my control with FTL travel. That is where my regulation comes in. Planets can do as they please but once they leave their system then they come under my regulation. Maybe my primary method of taxation should be to tax interstellar trade and travel. Resources that stay on planet won't be taxed, but if it comes or goes it will subjected to a tax. This, of course, will encourage smuggling but I think that its simpler to tax this way than have to access value on individual planets and tax based on that.

If I'm maintaining my empire through taxing interplanetary trade, then I would want a monopoly on FTL warships. Local military forces would be relatively unregulated, but I control the navy and preferably control the interstellar travel too, or at least regulate and monitor it. If a system rebels, then at the very least it's shut off from the rest of the galaxy - which actually isn't that different than if it just decided to maintain economic independence but official loyalty to the Empire.

All of this would be easier if I controlled the Spice, Astronomical, ComStar, the Navigators, or some other monopoly on FTL travel. Unfortunately, for my plan, FTL in Star Wars is relatively cheap and plentiful. I think that would still be a good focal point because any interstellar government will have to regulate it to some degree. Hopefully I get access to the Force, that could help me out too.

You asked for an empress.

Marasiah Fel

Some things are more important than the life of any one person—including mine.Marasiah Fel Marasiah Fel, affectionately known as Sia, was a Force-sensitive Human female who became Empress of the Fel Empire by the end of the Second Imperial Civil War. A princess of the Fel dynasty founded by...

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[Navarro]

And it suffers constant rebellions and infighting. Even at that, it's implausibly coherent.

I wouldn't call it implausible given the pressing external threats.

 

[Deleted member 88]

I think in theory-if you had a god like force being you could rule the galaxy. Thing is they would need to be both uber benevolent and super competent.

Else you either have a bad central government, or anarchy.

 

[LordsFire]

I wouldn't call it implausible given the pressing external threats.

Most of those threats aren't large enough in a given few centuries to be existential. Even with Juvenaut treatments, human lifespans don't generally last between 3-400 years, and Space Marines don't actually rule the Imperium. It only takes one generation for a society to fall apart, and there were multiple generations where this easily could have happened, and realistically, should have.

Of course, that level of understanding of sociology and psychology really is beyond what most writers bother with; I'm hard pressed to think of a space sci-fi setting that doesn't depict large civilizations as being too stable. Crest of the Stars is the only one that comes readily to mind, and that only counts if the Abh are sufficiently transhuman that they don't actually count as a human civilization anymore, just near-human.

 

[Navarro]

Most of those threats aren't large enough in a given few centuries to be existential. Even with Juvenaut treatments, human lifespans don't generally last between 3-400 years, and Space Marines don't actually rule the Imperium. It only takes one generation for a society to fall apart, and there were multiple generations where this easily could have happened, and realistically, should have.

Of course, that level of understanding of sociology and psychology really is beyond what most writers bother with; I'm hard pressed to think of a space sci-fi setting that doesn't depict large civilizations as being too stable. Crest of the Stars is the only one that comes readily to mind, and that only counts if the Abh are sufficiently transhuman that they don't actually count as a human civilization anymore, just near-human.

Implausibly long timeframes do seem to be a thing in science fiction.

 

[Deleted member 88]

In legends-everyone one should remember the Republic lasted 25,000 years.

By RL standards-this is equivalent to the Pleistocene. This is a very very long time for a governmental entity to be in existence.

 

[PeliusAnar]

In legends-everyone one should remember the Republic lasted 25,000 years.

By RL standards-this is equivalent to the Pleistocene. This is a very very long time for a governmental entity to be in existence.

But the size was a lot smaller for the majority of that time and more homogeneous. Each time there was a war they got more territory. I think it was once maybe twice that the Sith had their own Empire and then they found the Republic, they fought and the Republic gobbled up said space.

I think in theory-if you had a god like force being you could rule the galaxy. Thing is they would need to be both uber benevolent and super competent.

Else you either have a bad central government, or anarchy.

The Empire went the other way, with fear mongering. I just find it hard to believe you can make such a large population think you are benevolent without issues. Even if only 0.001% of the population was insane and hated their ruler, that is trillions of people. The issue comes back to the overwhelming size.

Still is there any way a democracy of any kind can work? Everything has been about strong central governments. I get that it is very messy with aliens and divergent lifespans, but one would think that something could be worked out. You probably have to go to a model where senators directly elected the Councilor, but the issue are the Senators in mixed being systems. Like having anything cosmopolitan like Coruscant.

One thing no one has touched on is droid's rights either. There are a number of droids in Star Wars that have had distinct personalities even if they seem to be oddly constrained for the most part and not trying to kill everyone. If humans or other aliens start replacing their bodies with tech (cough Grevious cough Darth Vader cough) at what point would they no longer be considered a being with rights?

 

[Bear Ribs]

Having thought this over the best I can come up with is a sort of fusion of Federalism and Feudalism.

Essentially a "Federalist" style system with more layers than just Nation/State.

Start with the "System" as the base layer that's enshrined in galactic law. Individual systems can subdivide their planets into blocs akin to counties as they wish and have a large degree of autonomy with specific rights and responsibilities enshrined for both individuals and systems in the constitution. Set a min and max on how many forces a planetary militia under a local lord, we'll call him a Baron, could have for anti-pirate duties. They may arm themselves as they wish, using local equipment or importing, but there's a strong incentive to use the same stuff the Cluster Earl uses since it's cheaper to buy his hand-me-downs and easier to use universal parts.

Above that have the "Cluster" who oversees maybe a dozen systems and handles taxes and such. Clusters should have a min and max force large enough that the local cluster Earl, has enough firepower to put down any four of his local systems at once, in case two of them get uppity and decide to have a slapfight over who owns an asteroid. The Earl's also responsible for taking the heads off any pirates who get a large enough fleet to threaten a planetary militia and overseeing disaster relief when something happens to a planet beyond the ability of the Baron to handle it. The Earl uses equipment that has to use specific standard parts and be repairable in specific shipyards for use across the galaxy, in the event of way a portion of the Earl's forces will be drafted for the Grand Army of the Republic so these vessels have to be serviceable, but can also have custom properties for the local races. For instance an Earl's ship may be a range of sizes, use heavy grav plating and have a corrosive internal atmosphere, along with controls written in Braille, but it has to use Turbolasers, Concussion missiles that fit in the same tubes as everybody else, and engines that use the same parts so that the Republic can drop of a basic resupply kit and know it's not going to be useless.

Above that's the sector where you get into State equivalents. The Sector Duke oversees multiple cluster Earls, collects their taxes, and goes and puts down any fool Warlord who thought he'd usurp an Earl without permission. Dukes handle whatever emergencies the Earl's incapable of handling and manages trade disputes at the mega level. Dukes, like Earls, have to have equipment that accepts the same parts as everybody else. The Duke has enough firepower to handle several Earls but a hard limit on total firepower as before that prevents the Duke from taking them all on at once.

Finally you have the Republic Conclave which is a gathering of Dukes who decide matters of import to the entire Galaxy. They are legally forbidden from discussing matters at the lower levels outside their purview, unless those matters actually affect things on the multi-sector level. Elected by the Dukes themselves is the Archduke (We're going to skip actual royalty for this scenario) who is first speaker and chairsophont. Things are mostly handled democratically with specific rights enshrined in their constitution along with checks and balances that are more complicated than I can think of before morning tea. The Archduke is entitled to command the Republican Guard, the largest military in the Galaxy and the equal of half a dozen normal Dukes, but not enough to take on all the Dukes at once.

Weaponry and military supplies are constitutionally required to be produced at multiple locations, for instance if the Republic Conclave decides that everybody's going to use 38cm concussion missiles as the standard for "light" then said missiles must be proved to be manufactured in multiple sectors by widely separated factories, and the total supply must be sufficient to handle the fact that everybody in the galaxy will be buying those missiles. Ideally there should be a mandated licensing agreement so that no single corporation can put a squeeze on a sector or more for their equipment, they should have to license the technology out to other manufacturers for make the same thing for decentralization. Of course if you're not trying to get a military contract (or only local militia level) you're free to make anything you want and filling those niche markets can be profitable for tiny agile manufacturers.

At each level militarily the system is designed so that a leader can put down any subordinate who gets uppity, but not all of them at once. An Earl can paste any Baron who decides to invade a neighbor but if all the Barons in the system have had it with this worthless Earl they're saddled with they can take him down. Likewise all the way up to the Archduke who is more powerful than any Duke but not a majority of Dukes.

Issues such as "How many votes does a hivemind get" are solved by not mandating Democracy at the lowest levels. The Hivemind of Sassafras II is the local Baron by default and can decide whatever it wants within it's Barony. So long as it pays it's taxes, maintains it's local anti-pirate duties, and doesn't invade it's neighbors the Earl has no authority to actually override how it wants to handle choosing it's leaders (Democratically, 1 hivemind, 1 vote), only to oversee that it's doing it's duties to the Republic. Their nextdoor neighbor can be a hereditary monarchy but as long as they do the same duties, they count as 1 Barony to the Earl.

 

[PeliusAnar]

Having thought this over the best I can come up with is a sort of fusion of Federalism and Feudalism.

Essentially a "Federalist" style system with more layers than just Nation/State.

Start with the "System" as the base layer that's enshrined in galactic law. Individual systems can subdivide their planets into blocs akin to counties as they wish and have a large degree of autonomy with specific rights and responsibilities enshrined for both individuals and systems in the constitution. Set a min and max on how many forces a planetary militia under a local lord, we'll call him a Baron, could have for anti-pirate duties. They may arm themselves as they wish, using local equipment or importing, but there's a strong incentive to use the same stuff the Cluster Earl uses since it's cheaper to buy his hand-me-downs and easier to use universal parts.

Above that have the "Cluster" who oversees maybe a dozen systems and handles taxes and such. Clusters should have a min and max force large enough that the local cluster Earl, has enough firepower to put down any four of his local systems at once, in case two of them get uppity and decide to have a slapfight over who owns an asteroid. The Earl's also responsible for taking the heads off any pirates who get a large enough fleet to threaten a planetary militia and overseeing disaster relief when something happens to a planet beyond the ability of the Baron to handle it. The Earl uses equipment that has to use specific standard parts and be repairable in specific shipyards for use across the galaxy, in the event of way a portion of the Earl's forces will be drafted for the Grand Army of the Republic so these vessels have to be serviceable, but can also have custom properties for the local races. For instance an Earl's ship may be a range of sizes, use heavy grav plating and have a corrosive internal atmosphere, along with controls written in Braille, but it has to use Turbolasers, Concussion missiles that fit in the same tubes as everybody else, and engines that use the same parts so that the Republic can drop of a basic resupply kit and know it's not going to be useless.

Above that's the sector where you get into State equivalents. The Sector Duke oversees multiple cluster Earls, collects their taxes, and goes and puts down any fool Warlord who thought he'd usurp an Earl without permission. Dukes handle whatever emergencies the Earl's incapable of handling and manages trade disputes at the mega level. Dukes, like Earls, have to have equipment that accepts the same parts as everybody else. The Duke has enough firepower to handle several Earls but a hard limit on total firepower as before that prevents the Duke from taking them all on at once.

Finally you have the Republic Conclave which is a gathering of Dukes who decide matters of import to the entire Galaxy. They are legally forbidden from discussing matters at the lower levels outside their purview, unless those matters actually affect things on the multi-sector level. Elected by the Dukes themselves is the Archduke (We're going to skip actual royalty for this scenario) who is first speaker and chairsophont. Things are mostly handled democratically with specific rights enshrined in their constitution along with checks and balances that are more complicated than I can think of before morning tea. The Archduke is entitled to command the Republican Guard, the largest military in the Galaxy and the equal of half a dozen normal Dukes, but not enough to take on all the Dukes at once.

Weaponry and military supplies are constitutionally required to be produced at multiple locations, for instance if the Republic Conclave decides that everybody's going to use 38cm concussion missiles as the standard for "light" then said missiles must be proved to be manufactured in multiple sectors by widely separated factories, and the total supply must be sufficient to handle the fact that everybody in the galaxy will be buying those missiles. Ideally there should be a mandated licensing agreement so that no single corporation can put a squeeze on a sector or more for their equipment, they should have to license the technology out to other manufacturers for make the same thing for decentralization. Of course if you're not trying to get a military contract (or only local militia level) you're free to make anything you want and filling those niche markets can be profitable for tiny agile manufacturers.

At each level militarily the system is designed so that a leader can put down any subordinate who gets uppity, but not all of them at once. An Earl can paste any Baron who decides to invade a neighbor but if all the Barons in the system have had it with this worthless Earl they're saddled with they can take him down. Likewise all the way up to the Archduke who is more powerful than any Duke but not a majority of Dukes.

Issues such as "How many votes does a hivemind get" are solved by not mandating Democracy at the lowest levels. The Hivemind of Sassafras II is the local Baron by default and can decide whatever it wants within it's Barony. So long as it pays it's taxes, maintains it's local anti-pirate duties, and doesn't invade it's neighbors the Earl has no authority to actually override how it wants to handle choosing it's leaders (Democratically, 1 hivemind, 1 vote), only to oversee that it's doing it's duties to the Republic. Their nextdoor neighbor can be a hereditary monarchy but as long as they do the same duties, they count as 1 Barony to the Earl.

Really well thought out. So the biggest concern is shipping and mega-corps. The sheer volume needed requires large ships. Due to the investment in them, they would need adequate defenses, but are traveling across multiple Systems. Like the Trade Federation needs a fleet x100 larger than a normal System to complete its shipping duties. This fleet needs to be armed, since insurance would balk at the risks if the ships aren't armed. Having the ships escorted through each System or Cluster is impractical due to the time/cost needed for each shipment and is very inefficient and would see the price of goods shoot up.

Then there is the issue of a single mega-corp owning multiple Systems, and hence taking over the Cluster and then the Mega-Clusters from the sheer size and unity of their power block. Like each Barony has a system that decides, 'The Trade Federation Representative is the Baron.' Since each Baron is determined by the rules of the System without outside influence, this can create an unstable situation with super large power-blocs forming. I am sure a number of poor systems would have their elected leaders sell out their voting power for money and trade considerations. I believe this is what happened for the Twi-leks.

The final challenge is the transfer of power of a System. What stops an outside force taking over, or an outside force paying for a proxy war to take control of the Barony? I could easily see the Banking Clans acting like the Iron Bank of Bravos only more pro-active in terms of putting their clients into debt. You either pay up, or we find new leaders.

 

[LordsFire]

Still is there any way a democracy of any kind can work?

No. The needs of the people in Corellia, differ too much from the needs of the people on Tatooine, to those on Kashyyk, etc, etc.

If you're looking for a government system 'by the people, for the people,' there is no need to try to conglomerate power on the galactic scale, and a hell of a lot of reason not to.

The sheer size of the bureaucracy needed to try to manage something that large, would be enough to make up Coruscant's entire primary planetary industry. It would be logistically impossible to respond effectively and quickly to the needs of any given member sector, much less individual world, without outrageous favoritism for that specific location backing it up.

It's just not feasible. The only real reason to try to create a galactic-scale government in the first place, is because someone wants the power, to rule over all others.

 

[PeliusAnar]

No. The needs of the people in Corellia, differ too much from the needs of the people on Tatooine, to those on Kashyyk, etc, etc.

If you're looking for a government system 'by the people, for the people,' there is no need to try to conglomerate power on the galactic scale, and a hell of a lot of reason not to.

The sheer size of the bureaucracy needed to try to manage something that large, would be enough to make up Coruscant's entire primary planetary industry. It would be logistically impossible to respond effectively and quickly to the needs of any given member sector, much less individual world, without outrageous favoritism for that specific location backing it up.

It's just not feasible. The only real reason to try to create a galactic-scale government in the first place, is because someone wants the power, to rule over all others.

I would argue there is a legitimate reason in regards to reducing waste and the bureaucracy of a million different systems. If each System had different laws, prices and trade would be hit very hard. Then there is the threat of mega-corps gobbling up large portions of the galaxy. The only way to resist mega-corps is with a large unified government. Then there is the Vong from Legends as an outside galactic threat, requiring a large galactic government. A lot of reasons besides a naked power grab.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Really well thought out. So the biggest concern is shipping and mega-corps. The sheer volume needed requires large ships. Due to the investment in them, they would need adequate defenses, but are traveling across multiple Systems. Like the Trade Federation needs a fleet x100 larger than a normal System to complete its shipping duties. This fleet needs to be armed, since insurance would balk at the risks if the ships aren't armed. Having the ships escorted through each System or Cluster is impractical due to the time/cost needed for each shipment and is very inefficient and would see the price of goods shoot up.

Then there is the issue of a single mega-corp owning multiple Systems, and hence taking over the Cluster and then the Mega-Clusters from the sheer size and unity of their power block. Like each Barony has a system that decides, 'The Trade Federation Representative is the Baron.' Since each Baron is determined by the rules of the System without outside influence, this can create an unstable situation with super large power-blocs forming. I am sure a number of poor systems would have their elected leaders sell out their voting power for money and trade considerations. I believe this is what happened for the Twi-leks.

The final challenge is the transfer of power of a System. What stops an outside force taking over, or an outside force paying for a proxy war to take control of the Barony? I could easily see the Banking Clans acting like the Iron Bank of Bravos only more pro-active in terms of putting their clients into debt. You either pay up, or we find new leaders.

Megacorps are always the sticking point in Star Wars because it favors corporations large and powerful enough to topple the Republic and more heavily armed than the government, not just once but repeatedly through history (Hello Czerka). I'm not sure there's any sane answer to them, though making sure a corporation has to answer to the minister of the level they exist at (ie. multisystem corps answer to the Earl, multi sector corps answer to the Archduke) might help a bit.

Forcibly taking over the Barony I see as a less of a problem. If you try to invade a Barony the local Earl should put you down because he probably doesn't want his tax/resource base being invaded and taken over. If you try to put down the Earl the local Duke should put you down, and if you try to start with the Duke the Republican Guard should show up, and if you're fighting them on an even basis you must pretty much be a galactic threat in the first place. That's how Feudalism works.

 

[PeliusAnar]

Megacorps are always the sticking point in Star Wars because it favors corporations large and powerful enough to topple the Republic and more heavily armed than the government, not just once but repeatedly through history (Hello Czerka). I'm not sure there's any sane answer to them, though making sure a corporation has to answer to the minister of the level they exist at (ie. multisystem corps answer to the Earl, multi sector corps answer to the Archduke) might help a bit.

Forcibly taking over the Barony I see as a less of a problem. If you try to invade a Barony the local Earl should put you down because he probably doesn't want his tax/resource base being invaded and taken over. If you try to put down the Earl the local Duke should put you down, and if you try to start with the Duke the Republican Guard should show up, and if you're fighting them on an even basis you must pretty much be a galactic threat in the first place. That's how Feudalism works.

The issue with mega-corps comes from the sheer size of the galaxy. If you look at the US, Disney owns an entire county. It is not unreasonable to expect corporations to own entire systems. Like a system is just some barren rocks, so they set up a mining venture, looking at Mustafaar.

I do agree that in practice that is how feudalism should work, but there are many exploits that are open for abuse that weren't present before technology. The biggest is automated production and hiding a large portion of one's forces until using them. This still doesn't address the challenge of trade fleets. In medieval times, it was a ship that would sail (avoid most taxes/controls) or a series of wagon trade routes, with the price of items increasingly becoming more expensive the further they traveled. In Star Wars everyone speaks or understands Basic for the most part, so there is no communication issues, but the size and scope of the trade fleets is an issue. A Trade Federation vessel is a couple times larger in regards to volume than a Star Destroyer, meaning it is easily the level of a capital vessel.

On the other hand you need mega-corps due to the sheer size of said galaxy. They aren't mega compared to the number of systems, but compared to any single power they are massive.

This raises the question of the galaxy being controlled at the top level by a corporation instead of an Empire of Democracy? People could buy shares and use said shares to vote. The common people would suffer a lot though, and things like OSHA and guaranteed rights would be kicked to the curb. Even then, the efficiency would probably be as high or higher than an Empire since a corporation would focus purely on efficiency and producing wealth for its shareholders. Long term this might work, since areas that are governed better would produce more wealth and take more of the voting block. It would be very hard for new powers to show up and get enough shares to matter, but definitely possible.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The issue with mega-corps comes from the sheer size of the galaxy. If you look at the US, Disney owns an entire county. It is not unreasonable to expect corporations to own entire systems. Like a system is just some barren rocks, so they set up a mining venture, looking at Mustafaar.

I do agree that in practice that is how feudalism should work, but there are many exploits that are open for abuse that weren't present before technology. The biggest is automated production and hiding a large portion of one's forces until using them. This still doesn't address the challenge of trade fleets. In medieval times, it was a ship that would sail (avoid most taxes/controls) or a series of wagon trade routes, with the price of items increasingly becoming more expensive the further they traveled. In Star Wars everyone speaks or understands Basic for the most part, so there is no communication issues, but the size and scope of the trade fleets is an issue. A Trade Federation vessel is a couple times larger in regards to volume than a Star Destroyer, meaning it is easily the level of a capital vessel.

On the other hand you need mega-corps due to the sheer size of said galaxy. They aren't mega compared to the number of systems, but compared to any single power they are massive.

This raises the question of the galaxy being controlled at the top level by a corporation instead of an Empire of Democracy? People could buy shares and use said shares to vote. The common people would suffer a lot though, and things like OSHA and guaranteed rights would be kicked to the curb. Even then, the efficiency would probably be as high or higher than an Empire since a corporation would focus purely on efficiency and producing wealth for its shareholders. Long term this might work, since areas that are governed better would produce more wealth and take more of the voting block. It would be very hard for new powers to show up and get enough shares to matter, but definitely possible.

Yeah, a corporation owning an entire system isn't really a problem on the scale of the whole galaxy. To use the Disney comparison, Disney's got an effective nation worth of owned real estate and I'll eat my hat if they don't have a private security force protecting assets like Disneyland, but if Disney tried to topple the US government they'd go down, hard. The problem is that the Trade Federation really did have enough firepower to topple the Republic, and without Sidious actively playing both sides to ensure they didn't get the win, they would have. If Disney was operating five aircraft carriers and looking into starting their own nuclear program then they'd be at the point Czerka or the Trade Federation managed.

The secret army bit won't really be a problem under my proposed system because there's no lack of actual armed forces. The clone wars worked because 2 million units, spelled out as being 2 million clones in the novelization, was a massive force that could topple the galaxy and the Republic had nothing to fight with anyway. To run with the Disney comparison again, the US would have a total of maybe twenty soldiers and three tanks in their whole military. It would be relatively easy for some cultist in a small town (or Disney) to collect 50 recruits to build an "army" capable of toppling the US government. Once you plug in sane numbers if makes far less sense for the cultist to be able to pull it off.

Pure Feudalism, of course, isn't the answer hence my emphasis on adding a constitution, bill of rights, and Federalist workings. Fundamentally I think "how you vote" is less important to the stability of the Galaxy than inalienable rights (for aliens too) and a solid constitution with proper checks and balances.

 

[LordsFire]

I would argue there is a legitimate reason in regards to reducing waste and the bureaucracy of a million different systems.

You actually have this backwards. A centralized bureaucracy will actually end up larger and more wasteful, not less. This is in large part due to how much more difficult it is to hold that bureaucracy accountable. If your city government has an inept department head in its bureaucracy, you have to put pressure on the mayor and city council to do something about it, and that's something everybody in the city can grasp. If that's a federally-appointed position, then your single city will be competing for national attention in regards to that one specific issue.

Good luck getting a Senator or President replaced because what the local head of sanitation is doing. Even in regions where one metropolis dominates regional politics, that'd be extremely difficult.

Now stack planetary, sector, and galactic levels on top of that.

If each System had different laws, prices and trade would be hit very hard.

Again, you have this backwards. Regulations from a central authority on that scale will make prices and trade worse, not better. Sure, in a more fragmented system, you have some areas where prices are worse, but on the aggregate, individual nations making trade agreements to suit themselves will be better.

Then there is the threat of mega-corps gobbling up large portions of the galaxy. The only way to resist mega-corps is with a large unified government.

This is not true. Mid-sized and small governments can do so as well, and at the point a corporation becomes a large enough military factor to force a government to submit, it's not a corporation anymore, it's a nation and government in its own right run in a corporate style. And those have the ability to win or lose wars against other nations, just like any other government.

Then there is the Vong from Legends as an outside galactic threat, requiring a large galactic government. A lot of reasons besides a naked power grab.

You seem to be ignoring this thing called a 'military alliance.' They are both effective means of defeating enemies (see any number of historical examples, WWII being one of the most easily recognizeable), and are much easier to form than monolithic super-states. Again, use WWII as an example, where the USSR allied with the UK and US, whom it promptly became opponent to during the Cold War for the next four and a half decades.

 

[PeliusAnar]

Yeah, a corporation owning an entire system isn't really a problem on the scale of the whole galaxy. To use the Disney comparison, Disney's got an effective nation worth of owned real estate and I'll eat my hat if they don't have a private security force protecting assets like Disneyland, but if Disney tried to topple the US government they'd go down, hard. The problem is that the Trade Federation really did have enough firepower to topple the Republic, and without Sidious actively playing both sides to ensure they didn't get the win, they would have. If Disney was operating five aircraft carriers and looking into starting their own nuclear program then they'd be at the point Czerka or the Trade Federation managed.

The secret army bit won't really be a problem under my proposed system because there's no lack of actual armed forces. The clone wars worked because 2 million units, spelled out as being 2 million clones in the novelization, was a massive force that could topple the galaxy and the Republic had nothing to fight with anyway. To run with the Disney comparison again, the US would have a total of maybe twenty soldiers and three tanks in their whole military. It would be relatively easy for some cultist in a small town (or Disney) to collect 50 recruits to build an "army" capable of toppling the US government. Once you plug in sane numbers if makes far less sense for the cultist to be able to pull it off.

Pure Feudalism, of course, isn't the answer hence my emphasis on adding a constitution, bill of rights, and Federalist workings. Fundamentally I think "how you vote" is less important to the stability of the Galaxy than inalienable rights (for aliens too) and a solid constitution with proper checks and balances.

Hmmm, I think with your comparison, the Death Star is something only a galactic level government can build. There really isn't an equivalent to modern day. Star Destroyers/Capital Ships are like tanks to today's world. Someone can build a couple hundred tanks in secret if they have enough money.

The Clone Wars was more about controlling key planets rather than a system by system take over. With hyperspace lanes, there are super efficient space highways in Star Wars. Controlling these lanes, key manufacturing planets, and key resource planets was the extent of the conflict. 2 million clones means less than one clone per inhabited system even at the low end of size estimates for Star Wars.

You actually have this backwards. A centralized bureaucracy will actually end up larger and more wasteful, not less. This is in large part due to how much more difficult it is to hold that bureaucracy accountable. If your city government has an inept department head in its bureaucracy, you have to put pressure on the mayor and city council to do something about it, and that's something everybody in the city can grasp. If that's a federally-appointed position, then your single city will be competing for national attention in regards to that one specific issue.

Good luck getting a Senator or President replaced because what the local head of sanitation is doing. Even in regions where one metropolis dominates regional politics, that'd be extremely difficult.

Now stack planetary, sector, and galactic levels on top of that.

It is honestly hard to say. I suspect that a lot of low level jobs are fairly automated with droids or computer systems. These systems operate more through inertia most likely than anything else. Coruscant itself is very interesting since you literally have super rich people living on top of super poor people. The class divide doesn't get any more real than here. I would suspect a very tiered system and people having 'connects' at least in the middle class. The lower class is just screwed over in the under city. How to fix that......well no idea. Coruscant is just as bad but different than the galaxy as a whole.

Again, you have this backwards. Regulations from a central authority on that scale will make prices and trade worse, not better. Sure, in a more fragmented system, you have some areas where prices are worse, but on the aggregate, individual nations making trade agreements to suit themselves will be better.

The issue is how many corresponding systems said trade has to pass through first. If Corellia decided to tax all shipments through its sector by 0.5% for space traffic control, that is going to be a lot of credits and impact millions of systems in terms of end costs. If every system did this....it gets insane. A good example of this not working are how US States functioned before the US as a whole came to be.

This is not true. Mid-sized and small governments can do so as well, and at the point a corporation becomes a large enough military factor to force a government to submit, it's not a corporation anymore, it's a nation and government in its own right run in a corporate style. And those have the ability to win or lose wars against other nations, just like any other government.

They are a corporation since they are the only entities that can ship enough goods at the galactic level. This is where a lot of problems come into play, since they have a lot of really large ships that need protection, and freedom to travel. Trade is needed since things like Bacta, droids, ships, tibana gas, hyper matter refineries, and various other items are only produced on certain worlds. Sure places can go it alone or a small group of systems, but they are inferior to the abilities and costs of large corporations. It is both a nation state AND a corporation, the Trade Federation had a senate seat as a point of reference.

Even if a government controlled 10 systems, that is not enough to counter a mega-corp. You need 100+ minimum, and even then the trade network, credits coming in from other systems, will allow them to field a larger force than any comparative sized government.

You seem to be ignoring this thing called a 'military alliance.' They are both effective means of defeating enemies (see any number of historical examples, WWII being one of the most easily recognizeable), and are much easier to form than monolithic super-states. Again, use WWII as an example, where the USSR allied with the UK and US, whom it promptly became opponent to during the Cold War for the next four and a half decades.

The issue is that with the size of Star Wars and the 3D nature, it is more like WW1 on steroids than WW2. If each group of systems is allowed to independently align foreign policy, the sheer diplomatic and spying costs would be astronomical. This would force larger blocs to form for protection, with the cycle continually repeating until the galaxy was destroyed or a single bloc triumphed. Unlike planetary warfare, there are no galaxy ending weapons like nuclear weapons to create a stalemate. Any super weapons needs an incredible amount of capital investment, so any government with 10%+ control of the galaxy could reasonably build one, but would drain their economy and leave themselves open. This is why the eventual state of the galaxy would be a single polity, since there is no threat of complete annihilation. Sure the Sith got genocided, but their vast Empire still remained and the Republic gobbled it up, systems and all.