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Kor: You of the Federation... you are much like us. Kirk: We're nothing like you! We're a democratic people. Kor: Come now, I'm not referring to minor ideological differences. I mean that we are similar as a species. Here we are on a planet of sheep. Tigers, hunters, predators... killers. And it is precisely that which makes us great. — Star Trek The Original Series, episode "Errand of Mercy"
In a story that involves a war between two different countries, groups, organizations, or factions, a common way of making the goodies better and the baddies worse is to give both sides certain stereotypical governments or administrative forms.
The good guys are often democratic, or at least led by some sort of council. If there is a monarch, she (it's usually a queen or princess) will always listen to her advisors and, if she has a veto, would never dream of overruling the prime minister or chief commander. The Aragorn is often a member of this council. In some cases, the council's commitment to consensus rule may get in the way of taking action against the villains; this can provide drama for an episode, as the heroes have to take matters into their own hands and act without the approval of their bosses.
The villains, on the other hand, will usually be led by a single supreme king or emperor. He (it's usually a he) may have a council of advisors, but with the exception of The Starscream, none of them are in any doubt as to who is really the boss. If there is such a council, it will be hand-picked by the Big Bad rather than being elected or passing some sort of qualification test, and will often include The Dragon.
This trope probably dates back to popular portrayals of the American Revolution. This revolution is commonly portrayed as an example of brave Americans fighting for democracy and freedom from the tyrannical British monarchy. In actual fact, Britain at the time was (and still is) a constitutional monarchy, and the American Revolution was started by Americans' objection to paying taxes to London but not being represented in the parliament. On top of that, the Founding Fathers detested democracy direct democracy.
The French Revolution is also portrayed like this at times, through the revolutionaries are more likely to be shown as Well Intentioned Extremists. In this case it is much nearer the truth: the French monarchy was a corrupt feudal bankrupt mess and the early revolutionaries were both rational and concerned with ordinary Frenchmen. Of course, It Got Worse.
Or it might go even further back to the Roman Republic and its wars against various monarchies or the Greek city-states fighting the Persian Empire. Even though they were decidedly non-democratic by modern standards, they were held up as (admittedly flawed) models by the American Founding Fathers and, earlier, Machiavelli. Remember the old line about winners writing history.
May be a case of Writer On Board, but if it is, it is not always deliberate. See also The Empire, The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified. Contrast Peoples Republic Of Tyranny.
Note: When editing this page, for the love of God, please don't add examples from Real Life. History is written by the victors, so of course every war is going to be portrayed like this, making it Truth In Television for people in the winning country and Reality Is Unrealistic for people in the losing country. This includes World War II.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
Film
- Star Wars involves heroic rebels fighting to restore the Republic from the iron grip of the Emperor.
- The Prequel Trilogy is an arguable subversion, as the benign Galactic Republic is turned into the evil Empire not through a military coup but by popular vote. Yes, I know, the vote was masterminded by Palpatine's Xanatos Gambit, but it was still approved by the Senate.
- Additionally, despite having the title of "Queen" and being only fourteen years old, Padme Amidala is supposed to be an elected leader.
- The Matrix has the humans being led by a council of elders and the machines by a single, huge AI.
- An odd counterexample is 300, in which the protagonists are a constitutional monarchy, but the Senate are shown as corrupt and constraining on the heroic king, who kills unarmed messengers when he gets angry. Women are granted some respect—in the film the Queen, at least, is not only allowed but encouraged to debate with men—because "Only Spartan women give birth to real men," which is a paraphrase of a real Spartan quote. By contrast, The Persian Empire is multiethnic and gay-tolerant. If you know your history, you'll also know that they were religiously tolerant and had a concept of universal human rights.
- Though this is a case of an unreliable narrator speaking to a group of soldiers before battle. Belittling the enemy as a bunch of wishy-washy pansies, praising your violent and decisive king, and mocking politicians is a good way to rile them up. Why would the narrator speak of anything positive regarding the Persians?
- In Gladiator, the good guys are hoping to turn the Roman Empire back into a Republic by giving more power to the Senate. The bad guy wants to get rid of the Senate altogether. (Historically speaking, noone planned to make rome a republic again, especially since the last five emperors had been both good and competent guys.)
- If you care to know, the main villain enjoyed 15 year rule (plus a few years co-ruling with his father) and was rather well-liked.
Literature
- The Star of the Guardians series by Margaret Weis inverts this, with the justification that its royal family are genetically engineered to be good rulers (with Psychic Powers as well), and the republicans are Well Intentioned Extremist Xanatos Suckers, whose "democracy" is corrupt due to elections being invariably won by whoever spent the most on advertising (but the worst thing about them is the Xanatos Sucker thing).
- Partly subverted in Legend of Galactic Heroes, as the Galactic Empire and Free Planets Alliance are both initially corrupt. After Reinhard von Lohengramm takes charge, it's the autocratic empire that's reforming, and the Free Planets Alliance that is increasingly repressive.
- The biggest irony is that despite being less populated and smaller that the Empire, the Alliance has fought it to a standstill for 150 years, and even with its corrupt elite, its GDP by capita was nearly twice as big as the Empire. Reinhart himself admit that if the Alliance'es idealists had not been blocked by a glass ceiling, he would not have been able to beat them. It's actually the whole reason of Yang loyalty toward the Alliance: he claims repeatedly that the worst democraty is still better that the best dictatorship
- Subverted in the Co Dominium series, were the resistance often want republican forms of government, but often use violent and unethical methods to achieve their goals, or end up being hypocrites. True Empires (led by a constitutional monarchy) are often portrayed as positive (or at least not as malevolent).
- Well, sort of; In the Warworld series, the First Empire fell as much from corruption and factionalism as from the Sauron Rebellion, and the Second Empire is portrayed as fanatical Well Intentioned Extremists in King David's Spaceship and described as being in a slow decline in The Gripping Hand.
- Inverted in the Honor Harrington novels, where the Constitutional Monarchy that was the Star Kingdom of Manticore was a vast improvement over the political machines running the People's Republic of Haven across the board even before the Jacobin-Style Revolution. The current reforms only make them comparable.
- Lampshaded in that people in the Solarian League, for whom the Manticore-Haven war is a distant and irrelevant blur, routinely assumed that the Havenites must be the good guys, because their country had "republic" in the name, and they were fighting a "kingdom." The old People's Republic of Haven tried very hard to encourage this.
- But then played straight by the fact that Manticore is presented as a democracy in terms of how the government works, while all of its enemies are pretty much disguised empires. Does not help the conflict starts as a pastiche of the Napoleonic Wars where Britain was the (constitutionally monarchical) Empire and France under the Committee of Public Safety was a Republic.
- The conflict between Lords and Commons has been an ongoing issue. The Hereditary Lords, especially the ones mostly interested in their own power have been the largest domestic obstruction.
- Grayson is ruled much more strongly by the Keys and the Sword. There's not any democracy on the entire planet. The Andermani are Frederickian Prussians complete with an Emperor having all the real power. Further members of the Manicorian Alliance include a planet more or less run by certain Families with ties to old Earth Sicily and a Caliphate.
- It's now the Star Empire of Manticore Thank You Please. And Haven has had another revolution. This one restored the Old Constitution, making the Republic of Haven more democratic than the Star Empire of Manticore.
- By this point, the series has made such a hash of the trope that it's almost impossible to tell whether it's being played straight, subverted, or averted.
- Actually Grayon's legislature DOES have a democratically elected lower house: the House of Steaders. The upper house is composed of all the Steadholders (a.k.a. the Keys), the hereditary nobility and they do wield much more power than the House of Steaders do. And then there's the fact that the current Protector, Benjamin IX has steadily reduced the power of the Keys in favor of the Protector (a.k.a. the Sword)
- Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars features the despotic First Family leading the Amtrak Federation against the tribes of Mutes.
- In Animorphs, the Andalites have a democratic government, albeit a somewhat Knight Templar-ish one, due to the long war with the Yeerks. A big part of their culture is that everybody must have someone superior to them (ie the great leaders are subservient to the people as a whole). The Yeerks, on the other hand, are ruled by a Council of Thirteen, and one gets the impression that twelve of the council are only there to disguise the identity of the emperor.
- Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy has both straight (but weird) examples and aversions:
- The Edenists, being telepaths, form a Hive Mind whenever anything needs to be put to a vote.
- The best-organized baddies are dictatorships, (led by Al Capone and a Satanist).
- However, the Kulu Kingdom takes its responsibility to its subjects very seriously. Likewise its offshoot, Tranquillity.
- Before the war, Norfolk was a borderline case: Its aristocracy was oppressive, but it's implied that the only reform necessary is for the government to pay for dissidents' tickets off-world (which would also be cheaper than running the gulags). (Well, the only political reform necessary; there's also the matter of its backward health and education systems.)
- Many books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe use this trope just as much as the movies did, but not all. Timothy Zahn's novels tend to feature an Empire that's, well, more complex than Black And White Morality. In the Hand Of Thrawn duology, it's not evil at all, and the Supreme Commander is trying to make peace with the New Republic. Problem is, there are some Imperials who refuse to let that happen...
Live Action TV
- Whilst Star Trek fits this on the surface, with the democratic Federation fighting against the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire and the like, it fails on closer inspection. The Klingon Empire is ruled by the High Council (and later acquires a clone of the original emperor as a figurehead, reinstating the office as a moral bulwark), the Romulan Empire appears to be ruled by the Senate rather than any individual (depending on the episode: the Praetor seems to be able to overrule the Senate at times), the Cardassian Union was theoretically ruled by the toothless civilian Detapa Council (though the Obsidian Order and the Central Command had all the power) until eventually Dukat claims sole leadership and has it join with the Dominion. The Borg, whilst they do have a queen, call her the "One who is Many" in their collective.
- Stargate SG-1 normally follows this trope to a T, but subverts it with the Asurans, antagonists who are led by a council.
- The Glorious Centauri Republic is very vague on it's method of governance but does typically have an Emperor.
- The Emperor and the great Houses hold most of the political power, commoners have very little say in how the Republic is run (and slavery is legal).
- Rome. Unsurprising given its setting is quite literally Ancient Rome, but much of the fighting in the first and second seasons is the attempt to displace the Caesars and restore the Republic as it existed immediately prior.
Video Games
- Subverted in Disgaea. Most Netherworlds appear to be two or three-branched Republics — and horribly dysfunctional ones at that. The executive branch (Overlords) is composed of people constantly trying to kill each other for their position (and sometimes, just for the hell of it). The Senate is a rabble of drunken, bribe-hungry factions more concerned with barring the other guy than actually paying attention to what they're voting on. As for the Judicial system, it says a good deal when the judge doesn't even care that the convicted party isn't the one they actually charged with the crime.
- Given that Felonies are considered badges of honor in the Netherworld, it's probable that Impersonating a Felon is probably a Felony in and of itself, and as such would be seen as a good thing. So they would figure that anyone with the skill, power, guts, or savvy to take someone else's felony conviction probably deserves it. These are Netherworlds we're talking about, after all.
- Tales of the Abyss kind of subverts this. Neither the kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear nor the empire of Malkuth is evil (the party members consist of people from both, including the princess of Kimlasca, the son of a duke from the same country, and a colonel in Malkuth's military), but they still go to war with each other because of a prophecy from the world's religion.
- Tales of Vesperia strongly subverts it. The Guild Union is set up early on as a free and democratic contrast with the Empire, but ultimately both are portrayed as fundamentally good institutions plagued by corrupt officials.
- Shining Force III features the Republic of Aspinia (which has a king) and the Empire of Destonia. Guess which one's evil!
- A republic with a king isn't such a strange idea, depending on how powerful the king is; a state with a figurehead monarch will tend to function as a republic in practice, but since the term "republic" tends to connote the absence of any kind of monarch it will rarely if ever be called that in Real Life.
- Command And Conquer has the heroic GDI fighting for freedom and democracy against the evil Brotherhood of Nod, led only by Kane.
- Although as time goes on it looks less like that and more like obstructive bureaucrats vs an actually competent leader who might have the right idea.
- This idea is of course to cover the planet in radioactive space rocks, turning the planet into a lifeless desolate orb and killing anyone and everyone who stands in his way, even innocent bystanders. All the while he builds up a militant religious cult that worships what is essentially toxic waste in the form of crystals. This Troper has to ask, where did the competent leader idea and the belief he's right come from exactly? Was I sleeping during the part where at the end of Nod's campaign where Kane wins that the world is engulfed in Tiberium killing everyone?
- According to the CNC wiki http://cnc.wikia.com/wiki/Divination
 , the missile at the end of Tiberium Sun would mutate everything into Tiberium based life. The people would most likely be similar to Petrova from the end of Renegade, kind of ugly but alive and sentient. By now (Tiberium Wars) the majority of the world runs on Tiberium power, has Tiberium scattered over it and the ecosystem is pretty much dead save for a few blue zones. GDI is looking for alternative sources of power to Tiberium but theres nothing to guarantee they'll be successful where the Scrin apparently failed. Nod embraces the power of Tiberium while GDI just fights it, Nod has to hide it's bases and has the worst parts of the world yet they've advanced far beyond GDI in Tiberium technology. As for Kane being competent: The side that's apparently about to go to the stars via the Scrin Teleporter? Nod. The side that's apparently unaware of Nod's plans and the fact that a giant Scrin army (Rather than a MINING CONVOY) is going to come through that teleporter after Nod leaves? GDI. Which side looks better? Of course most of this is speculation as we don't have near enough information about Kane's actual plans and what LEGION is doing, the actual state of Nod and GDI, what it's like to live in the world and other things. I was really hoping the game Tiberium could clear some of this up.
- Word Of God shows us that blue zones are actually a lot bigger than the game makes clear, covering at least half the United States and all of Western Europe. Especially considering where GDI's main backing is, they could be forgiven for thinking it's possible to save those, or at least trying to.
- GDI fights Tiberium because it's trying to build on the "normal" world order that existed before the Tiberium Wars broke out. They don't want humanity to have to become mutated to survive, they prefer professional armies that look like futuristic versions of 20th century armies, and so on. Meanwhile, Nod is embracing Tiberium because they are a revolutionary movement in the most literal sense of the word. They want to turn everything upside down- social structures, political systems, even the very nature of the human species. Their idea of how the future should look is very strange and alien compared to GDI's. It's not entirely obvious which option is better, even if Kane is in fact a brilliant Magnificent Bastard who has more information than GDI does.
- This can all be summed up by the simple statement "The GDI are the military-industrial complex writ lage, and Nod are transhumanist revolutionaries". Now which is right depends on your answer to the following question: what matters more to you, survival (Nod) or humanity (GDI). For this Troper, it's the latter, but the answer varies for evryone...though to be fair, the GDI are phenomenally stupid.
- And you can't mention "Good Republic Evil Empire" and "Command And Conquer" without bringing up Red Alert which pits the heroic Allies fighting for freedom against those bastard Commies.
- Not to mention that Yellow Peril Empire of the Rising Sun led by
George Takei the Emperor Yoshiro.
- Oddly enough, in The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the titular princess, Midna, was chosen over Zant in a democratic monarchy. As in, the kings and princesses (but no queens) are elected directly by the people.
- Elective monarchy sounds like an odd concept, but there are Real Life examples.
- Actually in some countries, such as medieval Spain, hereditary monarchy was seen as a remedy for a particularly unpleasant effect of the Visigoths' elective monarchy: the unavoidable period of scheming, plotting and backstabbing that would invariably happen after the old king's death.
- Though we don't ever see what actually happens afterwards (Invisible War? What's that?), the democracies (and for that matter dictatorships) of the world are corrupted and failing in Deus Ex. The "best" ending is probably the one where your character becomes the cybernetic God-Emperor of humanity.
Web Original
- so averted in Decades Of Darkness: New England becomes a quasi-fascist dictature for a while, the *USA conquers and enslaves half the world, while the British, German and Russian empires are all comparatively nice. Played relatively straight in Brazil, where the monarchy is pro-*US and pro-slavery and the republic.
- Inverted in Look To The West, where it's republicanism that is currently tarred with the brush of evil (of course, this was somewhat true in the 1810s even in our own world). Partly due to Author Appeal.
- Tales Of MU is set in the Imperial Republic of Magisteria, which can be seen as good or bad depending on who's asking.
Western Animation
- In Teen Titans, when Mad Mod conquers America and makes it like a Theme Park Version of Britain, the Titans are unable to defeat him until Starfire makes a Rousing Speech about how democracy is so great. The speech isn't about voting or anything (they've tried that a lot, and it hasn't worked), but compromise, which is encouraged by a system where you have to come up with a way to agree with the opposing party if anything's going to get done, and pretty much boils down to "E pluribus unum" - out of many, one.
- Which is strange considering Britain is a democracy.
- Yes, but Mad Mod set himself up as a king.
- Somewhat lampshaded at the end, when Cyborg remarks that even British people probably don't like Mad Mod.
- Transformers began with Optimus Prime and Megatron as supreme leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons. However, Optimus was later retconned into a high-ranking leader but still subservient to a council of emirates. Throughout most incarnations, the Autobots have been generally democratic and egalitarian, while Megatron rules the Decepticons with an iron fist. The exception is Beast Wars, in which Megatron is a rogue Predacon and the majority of Predacons are ruled over by the Tripredacus Council.
- In almost all media, Megatron's justification is brought about by "Autobot Oppression". In the three series this troper has followed to any degree (G1, Beast Wars, and Animated) Megatron has always presented himself as the leader of a band of freedom fighting second class citizen Decepticons against the oppressive Autobots who gained power during a war that concluded prior to the start of the series. Granted that this is his version of the stories in most cases (with exception to the war which is acknowledged by all). In a recent Animated episode it was played straight to such a degree that the Constructicons (traditionally Decepticons) don't know who to ally themselves with because both sides are painting the other in a very negative light.
- Judging by recent episodes of Animated... Megs may be right, even if he's a dick about it.
- One thing this troper has always found strange about the Good Republic Evil Empire in G1 is that even though Megatron and his troops were the small Empire resisting the Republic, the Decepticons were always better organized. Megatron had the Seekers (insane as they were), his Communication group was far superior to Prime's (All I ever recall Blaster doing was being a Soul Brotha when Jazz wasn't around. Meanwhile, Ravage is recording everything the Autobots say and Laserbeak is knocking Prime out cold in two hits), he had the Constructicons (who built SO many facilities while Prime was content staying stuck in the side of a volcano in a half broken ship) and built the Gestalts faster than the Autobots, too. In fact, I don't think ANY Transformer would have made it back to Cybertron if Megatron hadn't built the space bridge... Why couldn't this mech lead Cybertron, again?
- He did lead Cybertron for the vast majority of G1 (technically, Shockwave rules in his stead for the millions of years he was on Earth). The Autobots didn't gain a real foothold on Cybertron until The Movie, when Unicron's attempt to destroy Cybertron wrecked the Decepticons' infrastructure and left the transformed Megatron (now Galvatron) driven totally insane by an overactive pain inducer and trapped on a barren world with no viable energy resources whatsoever. Cybertron's energy crisis would have eventually toppled the Decepticons' empire anyway; it's hard to fight when you're starving to death. Unicron just sped things up.
- And in the comics, when Shockwave wasn't ruling Cybertron he was making everything both sides used, from the Constructicons and Sixshot to Ore-13 (the reason why both leaders are on Earth in IDW's series).
- While we're on this subject, the G1 Decepticons do an awful lot of voting for an evil empire: once in the movie to jettison the wounded, and again in The Five Faces of Darkness to ally with the Quintessons.
- You do realize that in both of those examples, Megatron/Galvatron was not there or otherwise incapacitated, right?
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