@theneutralmime

@theneutralmime

"Peacekeeper" isn't an official job title, at best it's like... PART of the job description, a way to kind-of boil down what they do into something easy and simple to explain or understand. It's also vague, probably intentionally. They're peacekeepers, the keep the peace, in whatever way that ends up being necessary. Sometimes it might mean helping a queen escape her planet so she can get to the Senate and ask for aid. Sometimes it might mean protecting said queen from assassins as she launches a rebellion to take her planet back from invaders. Sometimes it means being sent in to mediate a treaty between two conflicting groups. Sometimes it means going to investigate whether a planet's request for resources is legitimate. Sometimes it means running an army during a galactic civil war.

The Jedi answer to the Senate, THAT is a part of the job description. Pre-Palpatine, there does appear to be a certain level of leeway in that relationship where the Jedi could handle some things on their own or internally depending on the issue, but after Palpatine takes over that seems to become less and less true and so they become forced to simply do whatever the Senate asks them to do more often. We see them fighting against this in AOTC towards the beginning, with Mace and Yoda arguing that they're not supposed to be soldiers, especially not on their own, and they won't hold out forever.

This isn't something we see explored in the films very often, but there's been some comics and books that tell us that the reason the Jedi answer to the Senate is because it allows them legitimacy and resources and power they wouldn't have otherwise. And when I say power, I mean things like the power to actually mediate an official treaty that means something legally. They have the power to send for Republic aid officially and be LISTENED TO. They have the power to help a planet or system join the Republic. Without this relationship to the Senate granting them these things, they're basically just charity-workers doing grassroots work that might help with short-term problems but won't necessarily achieve long-term solutions. The Jedi give up a certain amount of freedoms in order to be able to provide better help to the galaxy AT LARGE. They're not a third party at all, and that's entirely by design.

There's a comic set during Anakin's padawan years where Obi-Wan manages to bring the Republic to a planet by essentially sending back a report implying that there's some kind of dangerous substance on the planet that needs to be dealt with immediately. Anakin realizes that Obi-Wan sort-of "lied" to the Republic and asks why and Obi-Wan explains that it got the Republic HERE in a way nothing else would have and the hope is that, as they're looking for this dangerous substance, they'll be able to provide the actual assistance the planet needs just by being there at all. Anakin asks why the Republic would come just from Obi-Wan saying there MIGHT be a dangerous substance on the planet and he says that they didn't come for him, they came because a JEDI called. THAT'S the sort of power that the Jedi are granted by choosing to make themselves answerable to the Republic. Obi-Wan is capable of bringing a ton of Republic aid to this planet on nothing but a "maybe" simply because he's a Jedi.

There are certain things they choose to give up in order to HAVE that kind of power and one of them is the freedom to just go anywhere they want and do whatever they want as an organization. Which means if the Senate decides to ask a Jedi to be a bodyguard for someone and there's no really good reason for them to say no, then they're a bodyguard for someone that day.

It's supposed to be a SYMBIOTIC relationship, one that only works when there is a certain amount of balance. The Jedi help the Republic maintain peace and the Republic provides the resources and legitimacy and power the Jedi need in order to make a real difference in the galaxy. It's supposed to be, ultimately, good for BOTH of them.

You can also add in some even more niche things like how working with the Republic gives the Jedi a certain amount of safety and security because if they're answerable to a higher power that ISN'T Force sensitive, it presumably makes people less afraid of them or worried that the Jedi will just take over. Attacking the Jedi has consequences beyond just pissing off the Jedi because the Jedi can get the entire Republic involved in the issue if they wanted to, so that can act as a deterrent to people wanting to hurt them. The Jedi gain so much more from being answerable to the Senate than they lose.

The problem is that when Palpatine ends up in charge, it starts unbalancing that relationship and it's no longer symbiotic because he's taking advantage of the Jedi very intentionally. He's putting them in positions that force them to be something they're not supposed to be, he's putting them in dangerous positions that cause many of them to die, and he's using his power over them to take away their autonomy over themselves. And people look at THIS relationship between the Jedi and the Senate and then question why the Jedi would ever put themselves in a position to be taken advantage of at all without realizing that the relationship between Palpatine (and Palpatine's Senate) and the Jedi ISN'T THE NORM. It is very intentionally NOT THE NORM. Palpatine is taking advantage of certain checks and balances the Jedi had set up with the Senate and the Chancellor that have worked up until that point and worked pretty well so far as we know.

Certain people in charge of Star Wars these days would have you believe that the Jedi working for the Senate means that they were always supporting corruption, or that the Jedi got so comfortable that they didn't NOTICE when it started becoming more corrupt and difficult to work with, and they blame the Jedi for being "part of the problem" instead of recognizing that the Jedi were the only ones trying to FIX a relationship that had done a lot of good for the galaxy for thousands of years instead of just immediately abandoning ship for their own purposes.