Having just re-watched Andor season 1, I noted that as usual most the characters in it who serve the Empire do so for simple and obvious reasons — officers blinded by sense of duty or who just enjoy being bullies, troopers brain-washed until incapable of questioning orders, citizens who profit from Imperial policies, or who fear repercussions if thought disloyal. But aside all those are True Believers, characters like Supervisor Dedra Meero, former Assistant-Inspector Syril Karn, and (to a lesser extent) Sergeant Linus Mosk. People who voice passionate conviction in what the Empire is trying to achieve, and dedicate themselves to serving its cause (admittedly in Syril’s case, in a twisted way). But its never explicitly stated what the Empire’s cause actually is. Words like Control and Order are brought up repeatedly, and certain subtext’s are clear (disdain for planets outside the core, strong military power) but why people think that makes for a good society is left to inference.
Now yes, I realize what’s really behind it all is the precept’s of Palpatine’s Sith religion, but that’s a closely guarded secret, so presumably he’s formulated some other narrative to sell the people on.
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They ended the war and imposed order.
So there’s some really good videos about this on the Generation Tech channel on YouTube. This guy Alan (not me) really digs deep on the economics and politics of the Star Wars galaxy.
Before Palpentine took power you had a war that was dragging on and on and a corrupt Senate that wasn’t able to respond to anything. Palpetine took power and ended the war things get done much more efficiently now without the need for Senators to debate each other and demand bribes for votes.
The Galaxy had just spent three years in a very destructive and expensive war fought by Clones and Droids. Even before the war, the Hutts’ Cartel had one-fourth of the galaxy in their territory, and they are known to be a crime family. Everywhere, far from the core, they have to deal with pirates, bandits, smugglers, and enslavers.
To make matters worse, the Jedi tried to kill the chancellor in a coup attempt. In which left that frail old man who always fought for the good of the Republic scarred and deformed.
The Galaxy is chaotic, order is rare, localized, and can easily disappear by the treason of those we trusted the most, that is why the Empire is good. It gets rid of all that.
Imagine this for a moment. The eyes of a regular person. No combat skills, just you and the people you know.
For the most part many citizens remember a time when the Republic was corrupt. They enabled invasions on their world, turned a blind eye to injustices and enslavement, let their communities fall into neglect and ruin. That was how they characterized the Republic.
Then here comes the Empire. Finally they’re at least being paid attention to. Personal life got better even if you had to be careful and had less freedoms. It was a time of peace and healing. The Empire being a fascist nation didn’t mean much now that the threat of pirates were gone and food was on the table.
Then here comes the Rebellion wanting to bring back the Republic. The Republic that let your community fall to ruin. The Republic that handed out arbitrary justice from a place of privilege. The Republic that did nothing because the guys who would push you around paid Republic officials to look the other way. The Republic who may have even sided with the pirates and slavers when you fought back against them.
Experiences can vary from world to world but generally this was the situation for the average citizen who sympathized with the Empire. At least until the Empire started becoming the guys pushing them around and making life miserable by showing up and killing everyone.
The official statement is that the Clone Wars exposed weakness and corruption in the Old Republic, which was the primary contributing factor to the Seperatist movement to begin with. It didn’t operate as a unified whole, but as a bunch of semindependent worlds, with their own treaties and trade agreements with each other.
In other words, the Old Republic wound up organized and operating in a way that allowed disorder and instability to fester, creating its own enemies, no doubt caused or further instigated by the Jedi Order in an attempt to remain relevant.
As such, Palpatine’s reforms are intended to crackdown on the mechanisms which allowed the Clone Wars to take place, and enforce order to prevent another galactic civil war.
The Galaxy is a dangerous and chaotic place. The Empire offers order, structure, and safety.
The Republic was bureaucratic and inefficient. Any sort of action was slow and unaccomplished.
Order and Security
The Empire has ended the chaos and suffering of the Clone Wars and is bringing order and peace to the galaxy.
It’s investing heavily into the often neglected Outer Rim creating new jobs like on Lothal and driving out entrenched gangs like on Tatooine.
The empire rose out of a war. Palpatine lied, killed and propagandized his way to a position where the actual people that had the power voted to give him all of it. And most of them were 100% on board. Palpatine was the saviour the galaxy needed in the people’s eyes, or at least in the eyes of the shotcallers. Obviously, Palpatine never gave up that power and the former republic slowly, but surely, turned into the empire of the OT. It didn’t happen overnight. People were radicalized, hatred was bred, and it took a while for people to realise that the empire wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. They probably believed the empire was good when it was formed, but by the time the rebellion showed up it was clear that the majority of the people had woken up, but were too powerless, too poor and too hopeless to do anything about it.