Char Aznable has always belonged to the left wing of the Zeonite movement, concerned with the liberation of spacenoids, instead of supremacy like other Zeons do. For that reason he joins in an alliance with left wing and Federation members in Zeta. There however, it is clear that the influence of the reformist wing like Bright Noa grows greater and eventually, after some important deaths happen, Char no longer is the mysterious 80s cool sunglasses guy, but is instead outed and used as a figurehead to give legitimacy to the AEUG in the Federation. By the end of Zeta, as not only that process is completed, but Char jokerifies further as his secondary interest of the esoteric newtype future is further crushed with the mind injury to Kamille Bidan, the only person in the AEUG left that Char had hopes on. Thus, he fucks off and seeks out the Neo-Zeon movement to do a different approach to continue on his unchanged goals.

However, by the time CCA hits, he is not 100% focused on the struggle for the people's liberation, but has let it instead become personal. He hated earth, he hated what Amuro stood for and was willing to be branded as humanity's biggest mass murderer and vilified for generations for the sake of ending it all then, which is why he opted for the Axis drop instead of taking a more Hathaway-esque approach. Even then, his plan was betrayed by some small random factors, like Quess taking a liking to him, causing one of the loyal Zeon officers to turn against him out of pure personal issues. Nevertheless, the Axis drop happened and was stopped spectacularly at the last moment and Char lost.

Yet nothing was fixed and the world waited for the next Char and the next Amuro.

I really like how Hathaway, also de facto a neo-Zeonite (despite not acknowledging it) did everything Char did, but without the mistakes. Sadly, it was not enough either, despite Mafty's widespread support.