The Prussian state still runs Germany

As the state expands and the economy stagnates, a privileged class of officials is drawing growing resentment — and deepening the divide between those inside the system and those on the outside.

Dear Reader,

Germany is often described as a country that reinvented itself three times in the first half of the 20th century.

First there was the strictly hierarchical Prussian monarchy, which was swept away by the chaotic Weimar Republic. That in turn was overthrown by a fascist dictatorship. And from its ruins emerged the liberal democracy that governs…