The New Republic & The First Order - politics  news - SW cantina

Overall, the Populists had more of a libertarian ideology, due a general emphasis on greater individual freedoms, both social and economical. More nationalistic than they were imperialistic, populists believed that almost all individual member worlds should retain sovereignty in the New Republic. They were divided into separate far-left and far-right branches. The far-left branch wanted to open voting on major decisions to the general public rather than only allow the Senate to vote on such decisions. Princess Leia Organa was not optimistic about their goal, thinking that it would only result in trillions of citizens refusing to agree rather than thousands of senators refusing to agree. By contrast, the far-right branch of the Populists wanted to dissolve the Senate so that each world would once again become a totally sovereign entity.

The only thing that these two factions had in common was their shared opposition to the Centrists and their willingness to support Organa's candidacy for the position of First Senator. According to the Centrist Senator Ransolm Casterfo's analysis, the Populists depended on a charismatic leader to hold the faction together. Most Populist senators with the exception of Organa were perceived as being "soft" on law and order. Unlike their Centrist counterparts, Populists tended to be suspicious of any notion of a strong central government due to its negative association with the Old Empire

Centrists tended to support a stronger galactic executive and a more powerful New Republic military. The more extreme wing of the Centrist faction constantly asserted that the New Republic was not doing enough to support individual planetary defenses and was diverting too much funding to the New Republic military. Some Centrist senators like Erudo Ro-Kiintor sought to earmark government funds towards Centrist worlds.

Overall, the Centrists expressed more authoritarian values, due to their strong beliefs in centralization of executive authority. The Centrists publicly professed that they supported stronger law enforcement, structural hierarchy, and greater centrality of executive authority. Although not a large wing, some of the members privately expressed pro-Imperial sentiments and nostalgia for the "Old Empire", although not all of them necessarily supported its revival. Many of those people simply admired its more authoritarian structure. Some Centrist senators like Ormes Apolin of Kuat and Fatil of Orinda admired old Imperial uniforms and armor. Some Centrists believed that planets should be responsible for their own problems and natural disasters and disliked the perceived rampant complaining in the New Republic.

Others regarded the New Republic's academies as inferior to those on Centrist worlds, which had begun to rebuild the old Imperial programs. Some questioned the official New Republic historical accounts of the Battle of Yavin and the Galactic Civil War. At least thirty Centrist senators were known to be avid collectors of old Imperial artifacts and equipment.

While the Centrists supported free trade, they were not as economically liberal as their counterparts, as they were more open to central planning, protectionism, interplanetary taxation, and increasing spending to create more centralized programs. Additionally, on the remote Centrist world of Daxam IV in the Outer Rim Territories trade was far more regulated. Some other known Centrist worlds included Arkanis, Coruscant, Riosa, Hevurion, Kuat, and Orinda.

"It is the task of the First Order to remove the disorder from our own existence, so that civilization may be returned to the stability that promotes progress. A stability that existed under the Empire, was reduced to anarchy by the Rebellion, was inherited in turn by the so-called Republic, and will be restored by us. Future historians will look upon this as the time when a strong hand brought the rule of law back to civilization." -Kylo Ren-

The First Order, also known as the Order, was a military dictatorship established by Imperial officers, nobles, and technologists during the New Republic Era.

Emerging from the collapse of the Galactic Empire, the First Order inherited the ideology of its predecessor, and was therefore intent on bringing the galaxy under the absolute rule of one government led by Supreme Leader Snoke. Rejecting the authority of the New Republic that rose to power through rebellion, the First Order took steps to gradually reclaim the Imperial legacy, building new fleets and armies in defiance of the Galactic Concordance. After years of testing the Republic's resolve through the cold war, the First Order deemed the time ripe to unveil the full might of its technological war machine, resulting in a new galactic war approximately three decades after the Galactic Civil War.

The First Order's origins date back to the Imperial Era, when the galaxy was ruled by the first Galactic Empire under Emperor Palpatine. Formed from the thousand-year Galactic Republic at the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, the Empire's reign lasted for a generation until its ultimate defeat at the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY. A costly armistice was signed with the New Republic, reducing the once mighty Empire to a rump state hemmed in by disarmament treaties and war reparations. However, elements of the Old Empire regrouped in the Unknown Regions, coalescing into a neo-Imperial movement that became the First Order. Rejecting the terms of the Galactic Concordance, the First Order initiated a vast military buildup in preparation for its plans to conquer the galaxy. When the Starkiller Base became operational in 34 ABY, the First Order used the destructive firepower of its secret weapon to annihilate the entire Hosnian system, destroying the New Republic capital world of Hosnian Prime along with the Galactic Senate and the home fleet.