The Imperial Senate and Opposition to the Empire

[Prophet 49]

This is a Legends-based question. One thing that has always bothered me in the EU (mainly Legends) is the inconsistency with the power, scope, and role of the Imperial Senate. If you watch the movies in order, Revenge of the Sith makes it seem as if the creation of the Empire was the death knell for planetary representation in the Galaxy and that everything going forward would be authoritarian and top-down. Yet in A New Hope, Daine Jir and other high-ranking officers of the Imperial Military (we’re talking the heads of the Navy and Army level of top brass) are fearful of the retaliation of the Imperial Senate if they ever catch wind of what the military and other branches of the Empire were up to. And then you have the vast array of EU novels, sourcebooks, stories, and guides that add to this confusion by never really clarifying this conflict.

Basically, there are roughly two interpretations of the Empire throughout the vast expanse of Star Wars lore from 1976 to 2014 (before the Legends label was applied). On one hand, you have the Empire described as this ironclad totalitarian regime which seeks to envelop the entire galaxy in a grip of ideological control. On the other hand, you have the Empire that is more of a corruption of the Republic and acts as more of an authoritarian regime that only cares for its own survival, and cares less about becoming an Orwellian nightmare state and more about just increasing its own wealth and power and acting like the galactic hegemony with its highest ranking officials only concerned with cementing their own powerbases. Current “Disney” canon (I don’t like using that term but is helps to differentiate) seems to definitely portray the Empire as more of the former, with the totalitarian aspects being very overt.

But back to my original point. In both of these instances, the one thing that has always eluded me is the actual role and power of the Senate within the Empire, and the roles of individual senators themselves. What I mean is that I don’t understand why there are so many senators in the Empire that seem to be able to openly voice their disdain and hate for the Empire unchallenged and without being silenced by the Imperial authorities. If the Empire is supposed to be this authoritarian/autocratic regime where “liberty dies” (according to Padme and the films) then why were there so many senators throughout the EU that just said “f**k it, screw the Emperor and the New Order”. This is even supported in the original film itself when Daine Jir mentioned to Vader that arresting Leia would “generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the Senate.” Wait… WHAT? Since when would it be ok for the national legislature of any nation to openly side with a rebellion? The fact that he was worried about this heavily implies that the Senate was already overtly working against the operations of the Emperor and his administrative bureaucracy. The EU describes the actions of many prominent senators that did openly oppose the New Order. Namely, I am thinking of, just to name a few: Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Garm bel Iblis, and Canna Omonda. These are all senators from high-profile core worlds (Alderaan, Chandrila, and Corellia), so they definitely held a lot of sway and influence. It wasn’t until the official declaration of Rebellion in 2 BBY that they were either forced to resign, attempted to be arrested, attempted to be assassinated, or whatever. If the Empire was formed in 19 BBY, why were these prominent senators permitted to speak out so openly against the Emperor for so long (17 years) before the Empire took any action against them? It makes no sense. They had plenty of time to sway public opinion on their worlds and others to not go along with the Emperor and his New Order. If they were dealt with sooner, there might not have been such a strong rebel force to oppose the Empire in the first place.

Which brings me to COMPNOR and the Imperial Security Bureau. What were these guys doing? The entire point of these organizations was to, as the Imperial Sourcebook puts it, actively promote and build the ethic of the New Order into the life of the average galactic citizen. COMPNOR was the Empire’s “party apparatus” and the ISB was the “secret police”. Their jobs are *literally* to police the political sphere of the Empire and snuff out any subversion or opposition that might spark into a full-blown rebellion or mass movement against the state. This is basic Dictatorship 101 and has been the case in real world history for centuries. Well… I think that groups of high-profile and publicly influential senators who are speaking out overtly against the New Order and the political establishment of the Empire would constitute a little secret police response. Why weren’t these senators “disappeared”. An “accident” could have been easily arranged. “Whoops… Senator Mothma’s shuttle crashed into an asteroid. Shame shame.” Or why wasn’t COMPNOR rigging elections on the Imperial member worlds to ensure that pro-Empire senators were guaranteed office in the Senate. None of it makes sense and it really takes me out of the universe. There is no explanation given.

I did not expect to ramble as much as I did. Sorry. I don’t expect anyone to read this haha. Just a few thoughts.

TLDR: Why did the “totalitarian” Empire permit open opposition in the Imperial Senate to the point of it growing into full scale rebellion? Why didn’t the Empire’s internal security apparatus silence this opposition before it grew out of control?

[MrNexx]

I imagine that the Senate was something of, as Tarkin said, a vestige, and itself vestigal.

So, you have an Emperor, who is the power in the galaxy. But planets still want representation in the government, so you keep the Senate, where people can get up and yell about things. Those things don't necessarily have an effect on the policies of the Empire, but people feel like they do, especially if the Emperor occasionally shifts based on what a senator says (in things that are not central to his goals).

It was also implied that the Senate did a lot of the paper-pushing of the Empire; writing laws and such to support the decrees of the Emperor. The officer (whose name I do not know) questions what the Emperor would do without the bureaucracy of the Senate... so that may have been a reason to keep it.

As for why he let people be seditious? Some of it was no doubt letting Steam escape, but this was also addressed in Rebels. Senator Trayvis was openly advocating for the rebellion, but secretly using his position and prominence to lure Rebels to traps.
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[CRMcNeill]

Read the history of pretty much any republic that became a dictatorship - the 20th century has plenty of examples - and the parallels are pretty obvious. If you want to “boil it down”, the allegory of a frog in the boiling pot pretty well sums it up. Better to turn up the temperature (or seize power) a little at a time than all at once. Do it slowly and gradually and fewer people notice until it’s too late.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

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[Whill]

[Dredwulf60]

In support of Whill's perceptive post; without the Death Star the Senate was necessary to keep the Empire's day-to-day bureaucracy functioning.
Without it, regional governors and fear of the Death Star.

[Whill]

Thank you. The fuller dialogue quote would have been better for my post. Yes, the system of regional governors was in place and would have had all the support they needed to maintain control without the Senate if they had the public fear of the Death Star to keep the masses in line.
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[Prophet 49]

I apologize for my 3 year disappearance. I appreciate your responses. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of questions regarding this. I understand that having the Senate is required to keep the star systems in line, as well as the bureaucracy. Numerous dictatorships did the same thing, from the Reichstag, Volkskammer, and National People’s Congress just to name a few. However, these institutions were all completely controlled by the ruling parties. They were either one party states where the “senators” were all pre-selected or where the people were given a single list of candidates. They were instruments of not only demonstrating the “will of the people” but also a symbol of total unity.” Everyone is behind our ideology, hooray!”

Where I find issues is with the fact that the often-described “totalitarian” or “authoritarian” Empire did not utilize the Senate in this way. It let it remain relatively autonomous, even granting it oversight of the military. Not only that, but it allowed some planets and systems to even overtly REJECT the implementation of the New Order on their worlds. The primary two culprits are Alderaan and Chandrila. Again, see my initial post: what was the point of having a COMPNOR then? Its single mission profile is to implement the New Order across the Empire. Apparently not two of the most influential Core Worlds of all time. Apparently they can just say “no thank you” and the Empire is just fine with that… what??? If that was the case then why didn’t every single planet just say “nah, we’re good thanks”. Apparently the Empire just lets these worlds do whatever they want. And if he was just waiting for the Death Star to be completed, then why even have a COMPNOR or an ISB in the first place? It had an ideology that it didn’t enforce. It sounds more like a corrupt third world presidential administration than an imperial dictatorship. Kinda lame.

[garhkal]

[Whill]

Right.