Аннотация:The characteristic of “seduction of culture”, which valued culture above all else, had exerted a dual influence on the modern history of Germany. On the one hand, its anti-political nature made the elite stay away from politics due to political apathy and provided opportunities for the emergence of totalitarian forces in the 20th century. On the other hand, the excessive worship for culture also profoundly shaped the form of national governance: the religious fanaticism of the Middle Ages gradually secularized and transplanted to the modern governance structure; the long tribal history and the governance of Holy Roman Empire gave birth to ethnic political belief and strengthened the obedience and worship to authority; romanticism and enlightenment, as well as culture and civilization, had been opposed for a long time, resulting in the estrangement and misunderstanding of modern parliamentary democracy and the deviation from democratic design in actual governance. The process of national governance in modern Germany was not only the swing between nationalism and cosmopolitanism, but also the tug of war between culture and politics at a deeper level. The dynamic balance between the two was conducive to effective governance and the construction of national identity, and the imbalance of the two was likely to trigger a serious governance crisis.
