ST Who is the First Order Opposing?

SOME SPOILERS -

For me, one issue/problem is the unclear political situation in AWAKENS and JEDI. Appreciate any insights folks can share. That being said, let me quickly clarify how I come at this... First, I believe that if something is important to the movies, it should be explained IN the movies, not in comic books, TV shows, EU materials. Most viewers will have taken in none of those. To me, the movies need to stand on their own. Second, overall I liked both AWAKENS and JEDI. I don't think it is "bashing" to like a movie overall but not care for this or that element, or to question this or that decision. I liked both, saw AWAKENS multiple times and will see JEDI multiple times.

Okay, so when AWAKENS opens, I THINK most of the galaxy is under a democratic republic.The Empire fell in ROTJ or thereafter, and democracy rose, and I believe we once again have a democratic Republic. Yes?

The First Order is waging war on this Republic, seeking to restore the Empire, or a "fan" form of it. They want the return of the "bad old days". They use Imperial tech, they dress like the Empire, act like the Empire, they are fans of the Empire (and apparently have astonishingly deep pockets, and some kind of support infrastructure - this isn't some backwoods uprising).

The Resistance is NOT the Republic's military. This is touched on in AWAKENS, and infuriates the First Order, who see the Resistance as a Republic-supported force that lets the Republic duck responsibility for opposing the Order. I have to say, they appear to have a point there. It's hard to understand how this works. The Resistance conducts military operations within the scope of the Republic, but we're supposed to believe they do so without the Republic's permission and blessing?

It seems to me that the Order wants to overthrow/conquer the Republic, and crush the Resistance, as it operates as the Republics psuedo-unofficial military arm.

Okay, so far?

Soooo.... where is "the Republic"? In AWAKENS, the capital planet was destroyed by Starkiller Base, right? That isn't a big enough act of war for the Republic to mobilize? Is the rest of the galaxy just shrugging this off? Leaving the apparently outgunned Resistance to do the fighting? When Leia and company put out a call for friends, why wasn't the Republic the first stop?

Where is the First Order getting all this money and support and tech?

Do you think the moviemakers resisted laying this out, clearly, because a storyline that said "remnants of the old evil Empire are at war with the Republic, seeking to restore the Empire" would have made the Order "the rebels" or "the resistance", and they found that unpalatable? Because they didn't want to have the Order opposed by an actual governmental military, with all the military formality that implies (to me, this is a part of the problem with the whole Leia/Holdo/Poe storyline... the weirdly unclear rules and structure of command and control in the Resistance...but then again, they are the descendants of the group that gave a stranger (Luke) a fighter and let him fly a military mission a few minutes after meeting him, and who sure do hand out a lot of Generalships).

In short, who are the First Order, the Resistance, and the "official government" in AWAKENS and JEDI?

 

I think the Republic pulled a America.In American History after we won our indepedenice from Great Britain we limited our military in fear.I think the Republic did this,small,limited,Coast Guard/Patrolships and then said done.With the main military/First Fleet blown up with the Capital their was little left but small outposts and paramilitary's (The Resistance) and anti-pirate task force's.

 

I always assumed that the First Order were leftovers from the Empire who obviously never settled with admitting defeat and made their plans etc to retake absolute power. It always has come across as them simply operating in the shadows and that there was no out and out war occurring. It's possible that the Republic was suppressing the knowledge of the First Order to keep people maybe from freaking out, funding the Resistance/backing them on the sly to try and deal with them.

Look at it from the galaxy perspective. I imagine a lot of people (especially the wealthy and upstanding etc) just accepted that this was their governing body (The Empire) and while it may have been harsh for the downtrodden, I am sure many people were doing just fine and living life normally. The Rebels were probably seen as bad. When the Empire fell a lot of people probably didn't like that and once the New Republic's capital gets destroyed it probably wasn't hard for the First Order to take control back. People may have actually wanted it. The Republic's fleet was destroyed there too, because they were sitting on their hands doing nothing thinking the First ORder wasn't a big threat. Caught up "with their pants down around their ankles". Who expects a giant planet laser to attack you from light years away honestly.

 

I guess for me, the attempt to distinguish the government...do they call it the New Republic or anything, maybe in AWAKENS opening scroll?...from the Resistance felt awkward, strange, and forced. Even if one imagines the Republic to be a very loose confederation, it would still mean the First Order is charging around, apparently making military attacks on Republic-member resources, and the only military force opposing them is...what? An extra-governmental movement armed with full out military resources, led by a prominent politician or former politician?

 

My understanding is the Resistance is officially completely separate from the Republic, but they have some unofficial supporters in the Senate. The First Order wasn't, to my knowledge, making overt military attacks against the New Republic until Starkiller Base. This is why the New Republic doesn't do much about the First Order; technically they haven't done anything wrong to the Republic itself.

Leia and some others recognize the potential threat that the First Order presents and forms the Resistance to... resist the First Order's interests and take military action that wouldn't be officially sanctioned from the Republic. This gives the Republic plausible deniability in anything the Resistance does and allows the Resistance to act as it sees fit.

As far as whether this should be explained in the movie or not... eh, I think there's not one right answer. I feel like there was enough in TFA to surmise this situation, but others may not be satisfied with just that.