Military Disarmament Act

The Military Disarmament Act was the legislation passed by the Galactic Senate of the New Republic in 4 ABY near the end of the Galactic Civil War that was to limit the makeup and operations of the New Republic Defense Fleet and ground-forces, reducing the overall size of the centralized New Republic Defense Force by ninety percent. The disarmament movement was undertaken in an effort to reflect the values of a democratic peacetime government and allowed the New Republic to focus on political cooperation instead of military control as its primary means of civil organization. The Military Disarmament Act also acted as a mechanism to legitimize the mandated disarmament of the Galactic Empire as outlined in the Galactic Concordance peace treaty that ended the war, further promoting the goal of a peaceful coexistence in the galaxy.

The act was originally proposed by Chancellor Mon Mothma, who had worked to prevent growing militarization of the previous Galactic Republic decades prior during the Clone Wars. Her efforts failed during the rise of the Empire and the following years of Imperial domination saw an unprecedented expansion of martial control and authoritarianism. Although Mothma ultimately turned to armed revolution that sparked the Galactic Civil War, she remained committed to the goal of a demilitarized galaxy and hoped to eventually be able to disarm both the Imperial remnants and her own Alliance to Restore the Republic. When the Alliance reorganized into the New Republic after the Battle of Endor, the chancellor moved quickly to propose the Military Disarmament Act and relinquish the military powers vested in her office.

Despite concern about the potential dangers of the various surviving Imperial forces, the Military Disarmament Act was passed shortly after the Senate convened and implemented following the end of the war at the Battle of Jakku. Over the next three decades, the military restrictions imposed on the New Republic allowed the First Order to rearm and reorganize with impunity and stymied efforts to protect against the Imperial successor encroachments. Opponents of disarmament, like Princess Leia Organa, found themselves largely shunned from the day-to-day politics of the Republic, which ultimately motivated the creation of an unauthorized military movement called the Resistance designed to perform operations that were prohibited by both the Military Disarmament Act and Galactic Concordance.

Text and facts from the “Military Disarmament Act” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.