How Count Dooku Turned The Galaxy Against The Republic
Star Wars’ Separatists were a corrupt corporate oligarchy, yet Dooku convinced much of the galaxy to turn against the Republic and join his cause.
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During the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Count Dooku founded the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a separatist movement that over 10,000 systems left the Republic to join. Separatist worlds believed that the Republic’s corruption left it damaged beyond repair and that a new government was needed. In truth, the Separatists were led by both the Sith and a cabal of the galaxy’s most unethical corporations, making the CIS far more corrupt than the Republic. With this in mind, how did Count Dooku convince so much of the galaxy to turn against the Republic and join a cause that was essentially a corporate oligarchy?
As its name suggests, the Confederacy of Independent Systems (generally referred to as the Separatist Alliance) had a much more hands-off approach to governing worlds than the Republic did, allowing megacorporations to profit by any means necessary with no oversight. For the Separatist populace, this meant that planetary laws and regulations were handled by the planets themselves rather than the CIS as a whole. This enticed worlds who were frustrated with Republic regulations and taxes, but without the Republic’s oversight, planetary governments were free to inflict practices that would be deemed crimes against civilization.
In Legends, supporters of the CIS felt that the lack of oversight was a necessary evil for planets to govern themselves their way, but Dooku also had a far more insidious method of gaining followers. In addition to highlighting rampant corruption within the Republic, he also played on peoples’ prejudices. In an issue of the Republic comic series, two human CIS soldiers discuss the Jedi and clones they’re preparing to fight, believing the Jedi to be mythical monsters who bisect civilians and steal infants, and the clones to be vat-grown creatures. In canon, the Separatist Alliance simply hides the fact that it’s ultimately a corporate oligarchy. In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Heroes on Both Sides,” it’s revealed that the Separatist Alliance has both a capital world and a parliament, whose senators falsely believe that their worlds are better represented by Dooku than they were in the Republic.
Outside of the council, Separatist leadership, especially in Legends, often knew the Confederacy’s ideology was a ruse. Dooku himself was the Sith Lord Darth Tyrannus, and he created the CIS largely to divide the galaxy and help Darth Sidious turn the Republic into the Empire. Dark side users, such as Asajj Ventress and Sev’rance Tann, joined the Separatist cause only to further their aspirations of becoming Sith. The Kaleesh warlord General Grievous and the Gen’Dai bounty hunter Durge were apathetic to the politics of the Clone Wars entirely, motivated instead by revenge. Grievous felt his people were betrayed by the Jedi and the Republic, while Durge loathed Mandalorians, joining the CIS to kill clone troopers, who were steeped in Mandalorian culture in Legends.
To his credit, the Galactic Republic had become corrupt by the time Dooku left the Jedi Order in the Star Wars prequels. It was indecisive, too strongly influenced by corporate lobbyists (to the point where they were represented in the Senate), and used the Jedi Order as a private military force with virtually no oversight. When all is said and done, though, the Republic, had it not been covertly under Sith control, was salvageable, as its goal was to unite the galaxy and protect ordinary citizens against groups like the Trade Federation or the Commerce Guild. These groups, who became Separatist leaders instead of Republic lobbyists, existed to make a profit, not protect citizens. But Count Dooku’s promises of planetary independence, stoking the fires of prejudice, and covering up corporate leadership ultimately won the hearts and minds of almost half the galaxy.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-clone-wars-count-dooku-make-galaxy-hate-republic/