The Distressed Watcher2010

Distressed Watcher:
Wait, the Republic doesn't already have an army? I'm sorry, I know this is a culture that exists long ago in a galaxy far, far away and all that, and it's totally unlike our own in many respects. But how does a legislative body not have any army to back up its decisions? Doesn't that sort of make the entire Phantom Menace pointless? How could the Republic have stopped the Trade Federation from blocking supplies to Naboo when they don't even have a unified military force capable of doing so? Would the planetary systems represented by the senate all have to contribute to any military effort that the senate decides on? No wonder they can't agree on anything.