"Begun the Clone War has."1
What on earth do the government changes of a fictional society have to do with struggles that western nations have faced for nearly sixty years?
Both societies are connected by a struggle against the unique form of warfare known as an insurgency. Since the end of the Second World War, the powers that have exercised hegemony over this planet have avoided another such full-scale conflict in favor of indirect probing, and war through proxies. The Cold War and the more recent struggle against terrorism and the misuse of Islam have led to the diffusion of goals often seen in these type of conflicts – what former Malayan Defense Secretary Sir Robert Thompson called, "A world-wide front in which fifty people fight for different reasons and causes all relating to the same goal."2
A similar state of affairs is true in the Star Wars universe as a leading member of the royal court reminds Senator Amidala, "There hasn't been a full scale war for a thousand years, since the formation of the Republic."3 Local conflicts are vulnerable to exploitation because of a lack of large-scale protective forces. This is understood ten years earlier just prior to the battle of Naboo. Queen Amidala is reminded of that by her guard commander and protector, "We have no army."4 The Gungans, a formally isolated people, are transformed into allies by the Queen’s plea. "We beg you to help us, Boss Nass."5
Counter-insurgency is best understood as the attempt of a government to defend itself from an armed guerilla force that is posing as an alternative government. The government in power employs a strategy that is a combination of political and military means, which seeks not a mere defeat of opposing forces but the reintegration of the best of the other side into a purified society.
Many fans saw Cold War metaphors throughout the Original Trilogy. The Empire was seen as both representing the United States’ desire for world hegemony and the political dictatorship of the Soviet Union. The Ewoks make use of hit and run, Viet Cong style tactics in the effort to defend their homeland of Endor. Their logs and catapults defeat the bumbling, technological, soulless Imperial military, an archetypical representation of the confused and sometimes brutal American military in Vietnam. Return of the Jedi novelist James Kahn, himself an advisor to the New Zealand forces in that tragic conflict, makes a good point concerning the over-stretching of forces, and lack of local support that governments often face in trying to wage a counter-insurgency. "The Empire, bent on conquest, was fighting on a large scale front of unknown territory, it knew nothing of local natives or their talents; any large scale force fighting guerrillas is always losing unless it wins. While rebels, who know how to make friends, are always winning unless they lose."6
The newer films focus on a society in chaos, looking for a strong hand to impose order by almost any means on an isolated and unresponsive government. The Jedi, as protectors, have become in the minds of at least some, above the cares and systems that the average citizen must deal with and interact with on a daily basis. The Council in particular cannot bring itself to interact in political affairs, and in wanting to avoid corruption, they allow it to go unchecked.
This corruption and chaos is of course being created by the soon-to-be-Emperor, Sith Master Sidious in his guise as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. He understands that groups and individuals that are underrepresented or discriminated against by any government tend to wish to alter and change it for both selfish and noble reasons. Sidious’s last two Sith Apprentices, Count Dooku and Darth Vader, were initially seduced by a desire to repair a galaxy in pain and collapse, only to find themselves using their gifts and powers to do so in ways that the Jedi do not approve of. John Nagl makes a similar point about such yearnings in our world with his study of the Portuguese attempts to maintain their colonies in Africa. They failed despite past successes because they did not give an outlet to local educated Africans while others did. "Revolutionary movements always attract those whose talents have been ignored. Because they tend to be looser, aware of grievances, and drawn from locals, they promise a place and an outlet for the hungry and the useful."7 The Portuguese, while avoiding racism, restricted the vote to those who had embraced Catholicism and a long series of rules of assimilation. The reputation for fairness that had long allowed their colonies to survive was destroyed because they spent too much time punishing those who failed while ignoring those who helped.
Count Dooku, in his role as disenfranchised Jedi and Separatist leader, well embraced the desire for a change in government from both within and without. "The Republic cannot be fixed, it's time to start over."8 He also realized, as did his Master, that "People are attracted to dictatorship because it promises unity, and quick, painless solutions to problems."9 Any political system of long standing resists change, because it sees itself as providing the greatest good for the largest number. This makes rebellion seductive because those on the other side are more flexible. "The leadership of any movement to destroy a system is effective because it usually arises out of true discontent. Its heads talk about the problems of the people, while the government talks about the rebels. It appears to care, and works tirelessly to sooth, while the current powers warn and chastise."10
Anakin is particularly vulnerable to Sidious’s theories because he has been cut off from his love and his mother by rules. As Palpatine, he promises Anakin the freedom to please himself after a lifetime of bossing. "You don't need guidance…in time you will learn to trust your feelings, then you will be invincible."11 Palpatine sponsors an updated approach of the bullets and bread ideal of power. The population is fed, amused, and kept in line at all costs. Potential rivals are quickly, if not painlessly, dispatched. Anakin Skywalker has implanted in him from his early life as a slave a spirit of obedience. Unfortunately it is a spirit which the Jedi can use for noble purposes and the Dark Lord for evil ones. Of the two, Palpatine is the one who makes him want to obey because, like the Devil, he disguises his seduction as fatherly concern and a desire to help. By the time Darth Vader really understood what he had become, there was too much blood on his hands, it seemed impossible to change back to the light. "It is too late for me, Son."12
Obi-Wan truly cared for the welfare of his ward but was very bound up in following rules to the detriment of their relationship. In contrast, Yoda and Qui-Gon, just as devoted to principles, seemed to find ways to create a bond between themselves and those they are teaching. Their work found the Padawan's inner needs and strengths, shaping them to the path of the Republic and the Order in a gentle way, without assuming a carping manner. Anakin, like so many today, needed constant reinforcement. If their talents go unrewarded, they become deeply hurt. The need for nurturing would be very powerful for someone who has suffered his kind of trauma. The Emperor, more than once and for his own purposes, gives our tragic hero a sense that his desires are very important. The Jedi could have learned much from the idea that "Government must not show a fist at the expense of a parent's embrace."13
Like the government of Rhodesia, the old Jedi order sought to isolate its children from all temptations and most joy as a goad towards inner mastery. "Fear of disrupting Christian civilized standards caused the betrayal time and again of loyal Africans and mixed race members of the Rhodesian Nation."14 Everything was way too harsh and too slow. The Jedi were like both sides in the counter-insurgency struggle to win over the disillusioned to their side of the struggle. They were to be with the people but not of them.
The classic example of this benevolent reclamation mindset was given by C.C. Too, Chairman of the Psychological Warfare Department of both British and free Malaysia. "One act of kindness, a propaganda of the deed, is worth a million fancy phrases. The wavering member of the rebel army will not be bullied by threats or seduced by promises, but will be won over if he can be shown he does have lasting value to his fatherland. This respect for his good intentions will be accepted by someone aware of but outside his current circle."15 Leaders of the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front, the official name of the Viet Cong, took great pains to publicize their welcoming arms to what they called misguided slaves of American imperialism and puppets of the Thieu clique.16
Counter-insurgency worked in Greece and Malaya, while it failed in Rhodesia and Vietnam, because the first two governments made use of defectors while the last rained down power at the expense of development and changing opinion.
I am truly pleased at the parallels between this flawed world of ours and the Galaxy Far, Far, Away.
Works Cited:
1. Salvatore, R. A. Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Delray, New York, 2002. 356.
2. Thompson, Sir Robert. Peace is not at Hand. Chitto Press, London, United Kingdom, 1974, 119.
3. Salvatore, 22.
4. Brooks, Terry. Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Delray, New York, 1999, 213.
5. Brooks, 224.
6. Kahn, James. Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Bantam, New York, 1983, 109.
7. Nagl, John. Counter-Insurgency in Africa. Prager, South Carolina, 1997, 123.
8. Salvatore, 402.
9. Barbour, Noel. The War of the Running Dogs. Doubleday, New York, 1971.
10. Nagl, 45.
11. Salvatore, 56.
12. Kahn, 222.
13. Barbour, 55.
14. Ellert, Henry. The Rhodesian Front War. Mombo Press, Harare, Zimbabwe, 1986, 59.
15. Thompson, 66.
16. Nagl, 66.
