The Militarists were a faction of senators within the Galactic Senate of the Republic during the decades prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars. In response to the decline of law, order and authority in the Outer Rim Territories after the 300 BBY, they wished to overturn the segments of the Ruusan Reformation that had stripped the Old Republic of its Army and Navy. The term "Militarist" began as a pejorative bestowed upon them by Senator Finis Valorum, though the movement's champion, Ranulph Tarkin, wholeheartedly embraced the Militarist name.