Abstract
<p> Oswald Spengler was an excellent, fascinating and challenging thinker who combined his impressive insights into human nature with the axiom that all human creations – including the state and its forms of government – are doomed to die. Progress towards an ideal final state, paradise on earth, is an illusion. The capable statesman should not be broken by this Nietzschean insight. His task is to make use of the existing possibilities that are determined by history. Spengler's philosophical and political foundations, his attitude towards democracy and dictatorship, and his charisma as a global thinker are put up for discussion. <bold>With contributions by</bold> Anke Birkenmaier | David Engels | John Farrenkopf | Florian Hartleb | Hans-Christof Kraus | Rebecca Krug | Fabian Mauch | Zoltán Sebestyén Novák | Harun Pačić | Michael Thöndl | Ulrich Wyrwa </p>