Liberalism

Liberalism is important for the development of democracy because there is always a group of people committed to giving enfranchisement to the people and responsible power to an elected legislative body. However, Germany never had a genuine liberal movement. Arguably, German leaders and most politicians had a feudal mindset towards establishing a democratic republic. The Reichstag was more of a rubber stamp organ of conservative influential elites than an actual parliament keeping a check on the government. It's important to understand, that unlike Britain, Germany was ruled by three social classes; the aristocracy, the military, and the monarchy. Britain did not have a universal suffrage till the 20th century but it had an established parliament that performed check and balances on the monarchy as well as on the government. The political parties were much stronger to perform, the Liberals and the Consevatives. The society was relatively open and democratic than Germany's. Why did Liberal's fail to have clear definite goals and represent the middle class?

The Liberals never had mass support from the German people. By far majority of the people were elites who never ever knew what democratic culture feels like. Most of the them were scared of what universal manhood suffrage despite implemented after the German unification. Liberals like conservatives had a deep fear of Germany experienced a type of French revolution. In addition, liberals did not push for making the Reichstag responsible and accountable to their constientuency. There was opposition to the national budget but they failed to take the monarch, the military, the unelected elites, and Bismarck head on.

The economy is important because since the economy was doing well and Germany was becoming more industrialized, there was no need for Liberals to push for political reforms. This is the same scenario with China today. If there is economic prosperity, than there was no need to democratize politics and society.