 This new class was not primarily defined politically or economically, but mainly culturally.It is often argued that Germany owes its reputation in technical expertise, scholarship and administration to the "Bildungsbürgertum".Nationalism at its origin was a liberal ideal, and as the "Bildungsbürgertum" were often represented in the liberal factions of society, they were often in the forefront of the quest for the founding of a sovereign nation state.