We should care what Germans think of Brexit, writes Prof. Philip Nel. That is because the rest of the world is increasingly looking to them to provide leadership in these tumultuous times.
You know Germans are shocked when they cite Vladimir Lenin. He once said: "Decades go by without much happening. Then, within a week, decades go by.''
This sums up the general reaction here in Germany to Brexit. The whole European self-conception of Germans has been turned upside down within a week.
We should care what the Germans think because the rest of the world is increasingly looking at them to provide leadership in these tumultuous times.
Three German views have emerged.
The first is more a sigh of exasperation than a developed response. How could "Rule Britannia'' become "Fool Britannia'', one asked. Many commentators cannot hide their frustration with the way in which the usually sensible Brits have committed hara kiri in broad daylight and with it endangered the whole post-World War 2 order in Europe.
For some it is a confirmation that much of Britain never really identified with Europe. For others, such as Josef Joffe, a respected commentator, this is what happens when you play dice with a referendum.
For him, and also for Richard Dawkins the well-known biologist, whom he cites, the complicated detail and consequences of offering a choice to exit from or remain in the EU give too much room for demagogues to exploit voters' prejudices.
As a German, Mr Joffe is all too conscious of the danger of demagogues and he celebrates the fact that neither the United States nor Germany uses referendums.
As in many other matters, the fathers of the US Constitution had an excellent gut feeling for the dangers of placing excessive power in the hands of the majority, he argues.
On the other end of the spectrum there are those who see the Brexit vote as a warning the European integration process has gone too far and has not delivered the social benefits that many hoped for.
They emphasise Brexit is a symptom of a general grass-roots reaction against the false promises of fiscal austerity, and voters are using every possible issue and opportunity to voice their frustration.
The vote for national autonomy is a vote against macro-economic policies that have seen wages stagnate and jobs lost at an alarming rate. These frustrations turn racist and xenophobic very easily, and no country in the EU is immune.
The trouble is that no-one really knows how to get out of the mess without making it worse. Rolling integration back by limiting the flow of people and goods will increase job losses, but continuing along the lines favoured by the political leaders in Brussels is no longer viable, either.
Project Europe has to be re-thought, not as a neoliberal programme, but as a programme of social solidarity and transnational respect and solidarity - something the original founders had in mind.
The question is, who is going to lead Europe back to its roots and out of the crisis?
A third view in the German media, and shared by the influential philosopher Juergen Habermas, is that there is no-one but the Germans who can and must lead. However, the German leadership is part of the problem, to the extent that they drive the austerity programme, seemingly to the sole benefit of German exporters and investors. German politicians head the Commission in Brussels and the Parliament in Strassbourg, and they seem to be immune to the lessons Brexit teaches.
More importantly, there seems to be little understanding in Berlin of what it means to be a leader - a hegemon as the ancient Greeks called it.
The United States became the hegemon after World War 2, and showed how one could gain credibility and provide stability by financing, not exploiting, the rebuilding of a destroyed Europe and a global market economy based on notions of fairness.
For Dr Habermas, Berlin is both too reluctant and insensitive to be a true hegemon.
Given German history of the 20th century, one can understand why Germans are reluctant. There is no excuse for insensitivity, though. If Germany cannot or does not want to lead, who else is there?
-Philip Nel teaches in the department of politics at the University of Otago, and is in Germany on a research visit.
