The Inner Workings Of Imperial Fascism

Star Wars

Nov 19

Sadly, fascism is a word used often these days. There are troubling signs among western democracies, and there are many fictional examples to draw similarities with, especially considering those fictional examples were inspired by real-world examples.

Fascism comes from a primal willingness to give in to a fear of perceived threats, amplified by propaganda, and then a justification of the oppression that follows in the name of keeping the source of the fears at bay. These are things the Galactic Empire use with oppressive effectiveness. It’s how they maintain their power and stifle resistance in the masses. It’s how fascist regimes structure their governmental apparatus.

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Take the ISB. Its entire purpose is to “maintain order”, which translates to rooting out dissension. To do this, agents need a mind that bends toward suspicion and paranoia. It’s such a pervasive mentality, it includes everyone, including ISB agents. This is shown with a zealous ambition to find corruption and transgressions everywhere, which is encouraged, so long as you only step on the toes of those who can’t play the game as well and won’t be a threat to you in the future. Dedra Meero rolled the dice and it paid off. Grow too bold, step outside your mandate, or draw the attention of an ambitious rival, however, and you could find a file in your name, along with the scrutinizing eye of those you work with. Syril Karn knows this.

Fear is their control mechanism, and while most think it’s how they control the populace, it’s how they control themselves as well. You can’t preach peace and order through security if your own security apparatus is “untrustworthy.” The agents of the Empire know this because it’s what they’re taught, and how they recruit, and they would be poor agents if they thought it wouldn’t also be used against them. This knowledge in turn forces agents to feel the need to constantly produce results, but this is actually a trap.

Fascism is born out of the manipulation of fear that there are threats all around and that the regime promises security. To maintain that power, they need to continue the facade that there are threats everywhere. This is the justification for the heavy security apparatuses employed by a fascist government like the Empire, and the use of propaganda facilitates this. To continue to seem legitimate, threats need to be readily exposed and dealt with. Otherwise, if the threats are eliminated, and the populace is quelled, what further use is an organization like the ISB? To do this, the definitions of corruption, crime, and dissension are expanded, and they find new transgressions to arrest people for, such as the PORD, or Public Order Resentencing Decree. The “threats” against the Empire continue and the people continue to believe they need the front-line defense of organizations like the ISB.

This is the trap. Fascism is really like an autoimmune disease. Eventually, the body starts to eat itself. At some point, the transgressions people are arrested for under orders like the PORD become too overreaching. At that time, two things happen. It will become increasingly difficult for the Empire and fascist regimes like it to justify the arrests they would need to do. If your ultimate stated goal is order and peace, and the populace exemplifies that, arresting people for minor transgressions or even innocent ignorance, like walking to a store that happens to be in the vicinity of a crime, creates more trouble than they want. At the same time, if things get too calm, the paranoia of organizations like the ISB turns inward, and they’ll start to level suspicion at their own members.

Motti knows the purpose of the Death Star
Image Source: Nerdist

What’s the only way out of this? Instill a fear so great that to resist brings terrible consequences. For the Empire, and later the First Order, this is reflected in the Death Stars, and weapons like Starkiller Base or the Sith Fleet. Defy the regime, and they’ll destroy your whole planet. It’s a tactic meant to make others give up in the face of such incredible power. Again, it has real-world inspiration. It’s no secret that toward the end of World War II, Germany was developing an atomic weapon. Recruitment of German scientists and information provided by people like Albert Einstein compelled the United States government to achieve this weapon before them. Should Germany have succeeded, there were plans to use the weapon on London and New York, and Washington D.C. There’s a reason such weapons have only been used twice, and never again since. They exist now as deterrents.

Andor has provided an even closer lens on the workings of Imperial fascism. Other facets of the regime and its functioning have been glimpsed in other works, including the books. The new Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn offers further information to illustrate the points above. Thrawn, the character, is a fan favorite, and usually, it’s because of his intelligence and demeanor. He’s further fascinating because the main flaw that Zahn has heaped on the character when he seemingly doesn’t have one is his absolute inability to navigate political machinations. He’s constantly a target of the ambition mentioned above, but his brilliance in the field, and the help of those he trusts, have allowed him to emerge from the diseased nature of fascism relatively unscathed.

The dogged determinism of the political players seen in the shows, movies, and books really highlight the gilded nature of fascism, and why resistance, as well as the downfall of the regime, are inevitable under such governance. The paranoia inherent in such a system forces them to multitask, and multitasking is actually inefficient. The constant suspicion that is used on the populace eventually turns on themselves, and while they pursue the “threats” outside their organization, they’re also eating at themselves, which works against them, since it diverts their attention away from what they should be doing: finding the rebels. This then lets the forces that seek to destroy their oppression flourish, and ultimately gain a foothold,

That, in the end, is why fascist regimes like the Empire fall. As the successes of the resistance increase, their only tool is to resort to more oppression. This works against them as well, as it just helps recruit for the resistance and fuels the fire that runs the rebellion against the oppression.

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