Order 66 and the end of democracy
- Marc Llinares Codina
- Mar 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 7
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a senator who took a close look at a small blue planet in the Milky Way, a beautiful planet but in a constant state of conflict.
It is theorized that primitive humans began using rudimentary speech between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago. Writing, for its part, emerged in the 4th century BC. Throughout all these centuries and millennia there has been one word, one concept and one fact that have characterized humanity. War.
From the war between the Sumerian cities of Lagash and Umma 4,500 years ago (which lasted more than a century) to the war in Ukraine or Palestine, mankind has known very little of the concept of peace. In some corner of planet Earth there was always some conflict.
But how does our small planet relate to the Star Wars space epic and the military and political tactics of Senator and then Emperor Palpatine? The original Star Wars trilogy is inspired by the Vietnam War, a conflict in which the small defeated the big, and this is precisely what we are going to talk about, the inequality of war and how to deal with it. How to finish with your enemy even without confronting him.
We are referring, of course, to asymmetric warfare. But what exactly is asymmetric warfare and how does it relate to Star Wars?
This concept appeared for the first time in the “Report of Quadrennial Defense Review” in May 1997 signed by then Secretary of State for Defense William S. Cohen, since then it has always been referred to. In this same report it is stated that “The threat of global war has receded and our core values of representative democracy and market economics are embraced in many parts of the world, creating new opportunities to promote peace, prosperity and enhanced cooperation among nations”. As you can see there are certain words highlighted in the quotation, we have not done this on a whim but because of the importance of these words. In these three lines Cohen summarizes the U.S. doctrine until the arrival of Trump:
We thus see in cooperation and values the two great pillars for peace. This is of great importance to understand the background of this article. It is also important to highlight from the report the difficulty of controlling sensitive information as one of the great challenges of the coming years.
Asymmetric warfare itself is a conflict, usually armed and unconventional, in which there are large qualitative and/or quantitative differences between the warring factions. In these conflicts, the aim is, among other things, to minimize the enemy's military capabilities or take advantage of its vulnerabilities.
This asymmetry is different in each conflict and the way to deal with it is adapted to the capabilities of the disadvantaged party as well as to the context or objectives. Some examples would be trade wars, cyber-attacks and industrial espionage or even terrorism.
However, in this article we are not talking about any of these issues, but about the asymmetric war for values, the system and, ultimately, the world.
The West took democracy for granted and in the blink of an eye it began to die. In recent decades support for democracy in the West has fallen and the idea that it was the best system for a prosperous economy has disappeared. This, coupled with generational change, economic crises and the more than evident inability of the system to respond to the needs of its population, has led to a rupture between the government and the governed, to the breakdown of the system and, ultimately, to the breakdown of the social pact.
Evidently the great part of the population still prefers democracy, but news such as the following are becoming more and more common; “Un 26% de los jóvenes varones prefiere “en algunas circunstancias” el autoritarismo a la democracia” (El País, 2/09/2024); “La mayoría de los españoles cree que la democracia se está deteriorando y su apoyo cae entre las generaciones más jóvenes” (La Ser, 02/09/2024).
And this is precisely where our story moves forward hand in hand with Star Wars.
Just as the authoritarianisms of our world could not defeat the Western democracies in a direct confrontation, Senator Palpatine could not defeat the Jedi Order alone. And just like the authoritarianisms of our world Senator Palpatine decided that the best way to defeat his enemy was to destroy his values and turn his old rival into a reflection of himself.
The war between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists involves a struggle for values, for the system and the form of cooperation between planets. Star Wars reflects how the struggle for cooperation and more importantly, for values, is more important than any territorial enclave. Who would have argued for democracy when all the world powers wanted to be seen as such? Who would have argued for the goodness of the Jedi in times of peace? Who could be against the peacekeepers? Only who would see them clad in battle armor fighting side by side with soldiers in crumbling cities and houses. It doesn't need to be their fault, just that they are in the picture.
The first of the modern democracies, the US, is slowly turning into what it once helped to fight against. Recently JD Vance, the US Vice President, has declared that neither Russia nor China are the big threats to the United States, but rather it is Europe and the “retreat in values”. And in relation to the war in Ukraine the valid interlocutors for Trump's United States are no longer Ukraine itself or the European Union, but Russia and themselves. Cooperation and values.
Twenty years ago the United States was the standard bearer for international cooperation, today USAID is being closed down. Twenty years ago the return of authoritarianism was unthinkable for the majority, today the parties of the extreme right are gaining more and more weight. Twenty years ago democracy was the great system to aspire to, today it is, for many, the oppressive system. Cooperation and values.
Borrell stated that who is not at the table is part of the menu and from here we ask, with whom would you sit down to lunch or dinner? Indeed, it all comes down to two things. Cooperation and values.
Just as Senator Palpatine managed to break Jedi values until he delivered the coup de grace with Order 66, authoritarianism has managed to break Western democratic values. Will Project 2025 be the Order 66 of our world?
Comments