Tarkin... "Star Wars" Machiavelli?

2010-09-15, 18:22 w Articles > Columns

393

Cathia

Rating: 5.00

“In hereditary states ruled by a bloodline there are fewer difficulties of rule than in new states.” Niccolò Machiavelli’s words, even after five hundred years, are still up-to-date. New states are the most vulnerable of states, especially when their form of government is being changed. We have seen it many times, in the former Soviet Union for example - to keep the power, strength is needed, but using it comes with a great risk. A ruler who oppresses his people too much has to face the possibility of an armed rebellion.

To proclaim the Galactic Empire, Palpatine first had to overthrow the Republic. Sentient beings, accustomed to a different political system, even though it had been ineffective and corrupted, started to rise up. Consequently the Rebel Alliance - or more precisely the Alliance to Restore the Republic - was born. The fact that it happened is also a perfect reflection of The Prince since “whoever conquers a free town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruined himself, because whenever the citizens are disposed to revolt they betake themselves, of course, to that blessed name of Liberty, and the laws of their ancestors which no length of time nor kind usage whatever will be able to eradicate.” And when the new ruler is a tyrant, the risk of a long and devastating civil war is even greater. But eliminating all the enemies may not always be necessary.

Although we have heard that “fear will keep the local systems in line” in A New Hope, it was not until the creation of the RPG supplement Death Star Technical Companion that we were finally given the full text of the dreaded “Tarkin Doctrine”. In it, in the form of a letter send by the Grand Moff to the Emperor Palpatine, Tarkin stated that the Empire needs “a weapon so powerful, so immense as to defy all conceivable opposition against it, a weapon invulnerable and invincible in battle, then that weapon shall become the symbol of the Empire. (...) The fear such a weapon will inspire will be great enough for you to rule the galaxy unchallenged.” These words almost exactly mirror how Machiavelli advised the people unsure of their throne, as “men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.”

The question remains whether Tarkin was aware of what could have happened to him, should Palpatine use Grand Moff’s other ideas. Machiavelli describes a situation where “Price judged it necessary to give the country good government in order to make it peaceful and obedient to his own rule. He promoted a cruel and expedient man, to whom he entrusted full powers. The man subjugated the country quickly and efficiently, to his fame. The Prince had second thoughts and decided such excessive authority was too much, because he himself didn’t want to become hated. (...) He knew the past measures had generated some hatred so to purge the state and gain the populace and show that the cruelty had not come from him but from the strict character of his minister. He took the occasion one morning to show his minister’s body cut in two pieces. (...) The ferocity of this calmed the populace and rendered them docile and satisfied.”

I am quite convinced that it is a move which Tarkin - a man, who destroyed an entire planet - could have proposed to His Imperial Majesty, by being overzealous or by mistake. And the Emperor - a man, who had never shown much respect for his servants lives - would use it mercilessy. Ultimately, as The Prince clearly suggests, the end justifies the means...

Translation by: Jedi Nadiru Radena; proof-read by: Michał Wyszyński