# The Politics of Star Wars **URL:** **By** Ilya Somin, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus **Published:** December 18, 2015 --- Ilya Somin joins us to talk about the politics behind the galaxy's most popular epic space fantasy franchise. Does _Star Wars_ have a distinct political viewpoint that we can tease out? Would the Rebel Alliance be considered a terrorist organization? How would we know if a rebellion was justified? Is the _Star Wars_ story libertarian? **Show Notes and Further Reading** The original trilogy of _Star Wars _movies and the prequel trilogy of the late 90s/early 2000s will be joined by [_Star Wars: The Force Awakens_](http://www.starwars.com/the-force-awakens/) on the day this podcast is released. Trevor mentions Somin's work on political ignorance; for a more in-depth study, listeners may want to read his book on the matter: [_Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter_](https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Political-Ignorance-Smaller-Government/dp/0804786615) (2013), or read [the Cato Unbound series on democracy and political ignorance](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2013/10/11/ilya-somin/democracy-political-ignorance). Listeners may also enjoy the podcast we did earlier this year with Timothy Sandefur on [the politics of _Star Trek_](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/the-politics-of-star-trek) . Ilya Somin was also a guest in a [KosmosOnline podcast about Star Trek](http://www.podcasts.com/kosmosonline-podcast/episode/ilya-somin-on-themes-of-liberty-in-star-trek). Somin frequently mentions the animated TV series [_Star Wars: The Clone Wars_](http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/star-wars-the-clone-wars) and _[Star Wars: Rebels](http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/star-wars-rebels)._