There are countless ways to explain Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace during the Star Wars saga. Issues of temptation and morality, of loss and anger, of impatience and a desire for power all play large roles in the character's turn to the Dark Side. Another issue, connected to those mentioned but still distinct, also has a significant impact on Anakin's journey from an innocent child and noble Jedi to a Sith second-in-command of a tyrannical galactic regime. That issue is Anakin's personal politics -- how they developed through his childhood, made him more susceptible to the frustrations of dealing with a troubled democracy in the Galactic Republic, and eventually led him to accepting the idea of the superiority of an Empire.
The circumstances that shaped Anakin's political thinking throughout the prequels and the beliefs drawn from them follow, in several ways, the political theories and thinking of the classical Greek philosopher, Plato. Throughout his works, Plato speaks to the idea that chaos and anarchy inevitably lead to tyranny, expresses concerns about democracy as an effective political system, and advocates an ideal type of aristocratic political leadership. Anakin's politics, a significant piece of the character's journey, are set against a backdrop of fictional governments in a galaxy far, far away, yet still reflect parts of the classical political philosophy of Ancient Greece that Plato espoused.
Anakin Skywalker's childhood on Tatooine has an enormous and critical influence on his political thinking. Tatooine is essentially a lawless planet, close to anarchy. Controlled by the criminal Hutts during the time of The Phantom Menace, the Outer Rim planet practices slavery, is a "[haven] for those who don't wish to be found," and is beyond the reach of the laws and customs of the Republic. Anakin is raised in this environment as a slave, with no freedom; what little security and stability he has is tied to the whims -- and sporting bets -- of his masters.
The dangerous and volatile nature of Tatooine creates in Anakin a desire for both order and control on a personal level. On a larger, political level, he would have the same priorities, making his future connections between an honorable wish to establish order, and seeing the benefits of an Empire (even an oppressive one) more understandable. It is easy to make the connection between wanting to impose order and finding the benefit in an Empire -- even when the desire for order comes out of a considerate impulse to provide safety and justice to the population, and even when that Empire is oppressive. In The Republic, Plato states, "the truth [is] that the excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction; and this is the case not only in the seasons and in vegetable and animal life, but above all in forms of government."1 He specifically addresses the reaction to chaos and anarchy, which he believes is the result of immoderate freedom granted to the population: "The excess of liberty, whether in States or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery…the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery [arises] out of the most extreme form of liberty."2 Anakin's character, who in part reacts to an early life on Tatooine by later becoming a representative of an repressive regime, personifies this aspect of Plato's political theory.
A childhood on Tatooine also taught Anakin several negative lessons about the efficacy and integrity of the democratic Galactic Republic. However aware he may or may not have been of the galaxy beyond the Outer Rim as a small child, by the events of Episode I, at least, he is certainly made aware of several troubling facts. "The Republic doesn't exist out here," his mother tells Padmé, and she's right -- ostensibly, the Republic has outlawed slavery, but seems powerless to halt the practice on Tatooine. Criminals and other outcasts from the civilized galaxy come to the desert world to hide, and often to continue their illegal and immoral activities; the Republic is unable to capture or stop them. Even when its representatives, like Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn or Queen Amidala, come face-to-face with Tatooine's problems, there is no expectation that the Republic will take any meaningful action to rectify the situation. Seeing the failures of the Republic in such personal terms on a daily basis no doubt influenced the way Anakin looked at the galactic government, and at the concept of democracy in general. The book, Plato: Totalitarian or Democrat?, speaks of the political atmosphere that Plato was raised in, one where the failures of democracy were also on display. "Democracy was only another name for corruption and class-politics," says one of the book's essays, and the philosopher, "heard the savage jeers…at the inefficiency and vulgarity of the jingo democrats."3 Plato went on to support an aristocratic revolution, and it comes as no surprise that Anakin supported a revolutionary overthrow of democracy himself.
After leaving his homeworld in The Phantom Menace, Anakin is raised within the Jedi Order, which is centered at the heart of the Republic on Coruscant. Here, the experiences and beliefs that marked his childhood on Tatooine are reinforced by the deteriorating state of the galaxy, and its government. This decline continues throughout the remainder of the prequel era.
While the Republic is still functioning during the time of Attack of the Clones, its slow slide into irrelevancy, chaos, and war continues. Anakin shares his thoughts on politics, government, and the current state of affairs when prompted by Padmé Naberrie. He doesn't "think the system works" and wants to change things so that all the politicians can gather, decide what course of action would best serve their people, and then follow that course of action. Anakin is neither a tyrant nor despot by nature; he wants what's best for the populace, and is frustrated by the inability of the Senate to provide that. For Anakin, the results -- getting what needs to be done, done -- are more important than the rules, laws, or the process of democracy, especially as he sees that process continually weakening to the people's detriment. He would rather "someone wise" take charge to "make [the politicians] agree" than allow the problems of the galaxy to continue when the government, he believes, has the means to end them.
The idea of "someone wise" having the final authority -- over other politicians, over the political process itself -- to do the right things and to take necessary actions is similar to Plato's thoughts on the ideal political leader. In the dialogue Politicus, Plato says, "Provided that the ruler possesses the art of ruling, he should be free to adapt the laws to his knowledge of the Good."4 In R.M. Hare's book, Plato, it is posited that "Plato thinks the rulers ought not themselves to be bound by the laws, but should be able to alter them ad hoc to fit individual cases, just as a doctor fits his treatment to the condition of each patient," and further, "any attempt to lay down laws by which the rulers themselves were to be bound would lead to an inability to suit measures to particular cases."5 Plato wants someone "neither pleasure-seeking nor ambitious" but "a true philosopher, alone qualified to rule through his knowledge of the Good."6 Both he and Anakin, if able to find such a person, would turn over control of the state to them, and feel they have done a measurably positive thing in saving the people from the problems and difficulties found in an often slow-moving democratic system. Unfortunately, both men were disappointed in the "someone wise" they chose to support.
Plato: Totalitarian or Democrat? describes Plato's distress at the inability of those he backed during the aristocratic revolution to fix the problems of the democratic regime: "Up till now he had assumed that everything could be put right only if the gentlemen gained control. Now he realized that 'gentlemen' could behave worse than the demagogues of the proletariat."7 Plato himself, in letters written long after the fact laments, "I thought the new regime would substitute the reign of justice for the reign of injustice…And I saw these gentlemen within a very short time make the democracy they had destroyed seem like a golden age!"8 Likewise, by the time of the Original Trilogy, we find Darth Vader disillusioned with the Empire and actively working to overthrow Emperor Palpatine. He still holds to the same political priorities that he has had since childhood; in trying to convince his son Luke to turn to the Dark Side and join him, Vader tells him, among other things, "Together, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy." He still values bringing an end to chaos, still believes that a strong person -- the right person -- can do what is needed for the good of the Empire. But he no longer believes that Palpatine is that person, or that the Empire has effectively governed (or dealt appropriately with the ongoing war against the Alliance). Eventually, as Anakin's moral compass guides him back to the Light, he finally rejects both the Emperor and his Empire. There are many other, and more important, reasons why Vader killed the Emperor, but in the context of the political impact, it is significant that the act is not part of a coup where he and Luke would take over control of the Empire, but instead is a redemptive act that destroys the oppressive government and allows freedom to reign again throughout the Galaxy.
The manner in which Anakin Skywalker's experiences influenced his political beliefs, and the way those beliefs influenced the path his life took are a critical part of understanding his character, his fall, and eventual redemption.
Works Cited:
1. Plato. The Republic. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Galileo, 1995, 106.
2. Plato, 106.
3. Thomas Landon Thorson, ed. Plato: Totalitarian or Democrat? Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1963, 17.
4. Hare, R.M. Plato. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982, 60-61.
5. Hare, 60.
6. Hare, 60.
7. Thorson, 19.
8. Thorson, 17.
