Conclusion

Abstract

In terms of the discussion developed in the preceding sections, it becomes possible to unravel some of the principal dilemmas in Weber’s political thought. The overriding problem which occupied Weber’s political energies was that of the ‘leadership question’, resulting from Bismarck’s domination. Germany is a ‘power-state’, which has forged its unity in a struggle with the other European nations. In the political conflicts of the nation-states, the unending war of the ‘gods’, now manifest in the form of ‘impersonal powers’, continues to hold sway. ‘Here … ultimate Weltanschauungen clash, world-views among which in the end one has to make a choice.’⁵¹ From the earliest phase of his political career, Weber determined his ‘choice’: that the values embodied in the German cultural heritage can be defended and furthered only by the acceptance and advancement of the power of the German nation-state. Since those who were the previous bearers of this culture in the political sphere (the Junker ‘aristocracy’) are a declining group, responsibility for political leadership must be derived from other sources. The same processes which have undermined the position of the Junkers have furthered the rationalisation of the political order.