[Extract from: Waking from the Nightmare and Sleepwalking to Disaster - Galactic Governance in the wake of the Collapse of the Galactic Republic]
[Authored by the August Professor Octavius Lee, of the most noble House Mecetti, Mrlsst Trade and Science Academy, Mrsst, Tapani Free Worlds League, Year 998 After Ruusan Reformation (Year 15 Imperi Calendar (United Federal Empire), Year 19 Neo-Sith/Imperious Re-Life-day Calendar (New Sith Commonwealth), Year 12 Restoration Calendar (New Republic))]
...so, to highlight the closeness, yet vast gap, between success and failure in governance post the Treaty of Bothawui it is perhaps best to draw a comparison between two rival, but similar, successor states to the Galactic Republic at the end of the Republic-Confederacy War. This includes their structuring during, and after the conflict, arising from similar, yet also admittedly very differing bases, though this would be met with rejection from scholars of the Imperial academic sphere at times.
As such one can present the case of the Confederacy of Independent Systems against that of the United Federal Empire, which arose from the former Eriadu Authority, itself arising, ad-hoc, from the Grand Army of the Republic's Southern Reaches Command (GAR-South) during the early stages of the Republic-Confederacy War. While many would wish to lump the development of government structures in the Eriadu backed Outer and Mid Rim with that of the other Republic successor states, primarily those of the Core, it must be stated this association is very much nominal when looked at seriously. The Core Republic Successor States largely adopted the previous Republic structures whole cloth, though heavily focusing power within one or two 'Pillars' within those structures – Corellia within the Senate, Coruscant-Alsakan within the Grand Army and 'senior' Senators, and Kuat within the office of the Supreme Chancellor.
Eriadu and Raxus alternatively took much of the basic outline structures of the Galactic Republic's governmental infrastructure, but largely had to establish/re-establish the actual systems independently and were altered at various stages in an ad-hoc manner to ensure functionality during the conflict. This was true with creation of the Separatist Council within the Confederacy separate from the Senate (Parliament), as well as with creation/re-introduction of the rank of Moff within the Eriadu Authority. Yes, one acknowledges these are differing ideas and systems, but exist for identical reasons – ensuring the functioning of the State and Military during wartime as the prior structures were proven insufficient to that need. Both systems were aimed to allow swifter response to crisis's as well as allowing more flexibility in offensive military operations versus the existing Republic structures (which had rapidly proven inadequate to the task).
Next one must note that both states had similar backgrounds in the factional nature of where their primary economic and military support was drawn from. Many scholars overlook that while Eriadu was, nominally, under the control of the Grand of the Republic based on Coruscant, the truth is much in line with assembled factions gathered together by Count Dooku of Serreno to form the early Separatist cause. While, in-theory, under control of the GAR, the GAR-South was, in truth, a vast hodgepodge of House militaries, Loyalist System Defence Forces, professional mercenaries, and commercial fleet security forces allied with the GAR. This is an important distinction as many GAR units, Clone, rebelled against GAR-South control initially in the wake of the Coruscant Coup.
This is in line with the ad-hoc combined fleets of the Confederate Navy being formed into a unified military at the start of the military being assembled from the various constituent members that made up the Separatist Cause. Just as Raxus had to make significant efforts to form these forces, also made up of Loyal System Defence Forces, House militaries, mercenaries, and the security arms of the likes of the Trade Federation and Techno Union, so did Eriadu. Even the hefty influence of various powerful economic interests are visible within both, from the above mention within the government on Raxus, to the likes of SoroSuub and the Figg Conglomerate on Eriadu. Up to the Battle of Naboo and proceeding Treaty of Bothawui then both stellar nations, if looked at closely internally, past the veneer of official governance, display very similar institutional developments and governance outlook.
It is After the Treaty of Bothawui that we see a shift by one party, the nominally defeated one, away from the ad-hoc governmental and military system, while the other, despite its victory, ran in a strong sense of institutional inertia despite the youthfulness of said institutions. One could also note that while both polities found themselves officially at peace, and largely was so on the wider-galactic scale, they were both engaged in significant internal operations such as piracy suppression, and both engaged in lesser scale conflicts. This can be seen in the Confederate-Mandalorian War, and the continued conflict between the Kuat based Chancellorist faction strongholds of Kamino and Rothana for Eriadu. To say nothing of the increasingly brutal 'Frontier Wars' that would draw the Imperial Navy's attention, all while both entities backed 'privateer' forces to engage in an unspoken war at the same time.
As such, one can show that the CIS and UFE bore great similarities in both their structures, pressures, and factional divides coming into the Treaty of Bothawui, and then into the immediate aftermath. Due to this it is interesting to point out the differences in the immediate aftermath of the Treaty of Bothawui on both Raxus and Eriadu. Nominally, the Battle of Naboo aside, the Republic factions lost the Republic – Confederacy War, and GAR-South/Eriadu Authority had been no different in the loss of a significant number of Mid Rim territories to the CIS. What is interesting to note then is the aggressive propaganda in the wake of the Treaty by the nascent polity presenting the Battle of Naboo as a pivotal moment against the tyranny and aggression of the CIS, and of a Great Victory that ended the war.
This 'Great Victory' was then used as a focal point for a series of aggressive reform to solidify the polity's institutions as well as create a strong sense of legitimacy amidst its disparate populace. Such is evident in major public declarations such as the move from nominal Republic loyalist state to declaring itself an independent polity with an Emperor and heavily modified set of former Republic institutions. Secondly is in the immediate efforts made, albeit ad-hoc initially, to standardise and unify the military forces and command structure further, even as these diminished forces were turned towards internal stability operations. Officially Confederate military forces were also turned towards such operations, but the situation was more factional based than the centralised Imperial efforts.
We can see this effort having real weight within the UFE with the allocation of some their best commanders to these operations, along with investment of these commanders with personal interest in the success of these missions. This can be placed alongside the CIS operations, which, while usually officially mandated as Confederate Naval operations were, often, suppression operations taken by factions within the CIS in the run up to the elections to the Separatist Parliament and to the Separatist Council. Indeed, one would merely point to the fact the CIS proved almost completely unable to change the names of various institutions from the defunct 'Separatist' titles to Confederate or some other moniker is a visible sign of the factional gridlock that existed before, and after, the Treaty.
Nor was their any great propaganda campaign after Naboo, beyond general goodwill and often disorganised and impromptu 'Victory Day' celebrations throughout the Confederacy as a whole. Where the end of the major conflicts led to significant efforts at reform that had been held back by wartime circumstances on Eriadu, on Raxus the end of the war seemed to lead to the end of wartime measures that served to enable the functioning of the State. Only the fact the Confederate-Mandalorian War and the various anti-piracy operations continuing ensured that several of these wartime measures remained in effect allowed any functioning of the Confederate Parliament as it inched towards the planned elections. To use the example; - where the Imperials moved rapidly, despite ideological opposition within their ranks, to a new calendar system, the Confederates proved unable to create their own in the same period despite strong, widespread, ideological support for such a change.
Such a state of play extends to taxation when one compares the Imperial and Confederate approaches in the two years after the Battle of Naboo. Even prior to the Treaty of Bothawui the proto-Imperial government had been making significant reforms to existent Republic tariff-based taxation systems, largely to simplify them, but also towards creation of an additional 'Income/Corporate' taxation across its member world. This was based on reduction of tariffs, which had in the past choked the life out of many Outer Rim industries, while ensuring both a greater tax base, and a more secure tax base to insure military replacement. When one looks at the larger picture then, it is clear these measures are the cumulation of several years of effort during the war, rather than a sudden, radical, shift with the new taxes and creation of the Office of the Imperial Treasury.
This was not the case with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, as is well known even amongst non-scholars. Though it is very untrue the statement that the CIS was funded almost entirely by volunteer donations and by the Mega-corporations that were its members. While it is true that these groups supply a great deal of military strength and funding to the nascent CIS, it should be noted that the polity did, in fact, operate a tariff-based taxation system just as the Galactic Republic had. Indeed, the system was a somewhat modified version of that system that largely remained unchanged, excluding some granted exemptions to various goods, throughout, and after, the war. As such the CIS was beginning to see a financial crunch on the horizon by 986ARR, though long-term funding via war-bonds and the IGBC meant that such a situation was still on the horizon rather than falling due. But that realisation served to cause factional strife within the CIS leadership case, largely as the business-leadership that dominated the upper levels, strongly resisted such reforms.
Due to this the factional disorder extended to the military, as while both polities had, in-theory, combined and unified militaries, the truth of the matter was that even by 986ARR the Confederate High Command was only in control of its constituent parts. Unlike the UFE which adopted a gradual, but heavily invested, 'Imperialisation' of his member forces into a coherent body, despite significant equipment variance, the CIS, despite near mass standardisation of it's Fleets, Armies, and other forces in terms of equipment comparatively, largely never established a 'National' military structure. Instead, each force within the overall structure remained loyal to its patron, such as the Trade Federation, Techno Union, or other, while being nominally under the control of the Council. As was shown later there were significant exceptions to this rule, but these arose often by mistake or OverSector circumstances rather than intended policy.
This difference can be shown in the 'suppression campaigns' embarked upon shortly after Bothawui by both sides – with the UFE in the Frontier Reaches Campaign, and then with the CIS in the Central Hyperlane Policing Action. Where the UFE Frontier fleets, largely, brought the frontiers of the Old Republic under control of the UFE, albeit under factional leadership under the centralised Eriadu structure, the CIS campaigns brought about expanded Bothan Protectorate, Trade Federation, and Commerce Guild control over, often already loyal, CIS systems with little benefit to its own central government. Indeed, when looked at closely the Bothan campaigns into its near frontier can be seen a significantly detrimental to the CIS as the government on Bothawui continued to negotiate, often behind the back of Raxus, with external parties such as the Hutts. Even as the Trade Federation actively supported the Alsakan backed Republic, and therefore the Mandalorian Dominion, that the CIS were still at war with. All while both factions held back their forces from the Mandalorian conflict, in comparison to Eriadu where all available were committed to needed military actions.
So, it best to compare these polities further as they both approached the first 'galaxy-wide' elections in 987ARR…
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