The Holy Roman Empire no longer has a significant role in European politics after the Thirty Years' War, but it remains important in Germany, providing a framework for the many German states' and cities' conduct of their public affairs.

The Reichstag, which remains in session at Regensburg from 1663 until the empire's dissolution in 1806, provides a forum for the settlement of disputes.

Votes are taken on occasion to remove incompetent or tyrannical rulers of member states.

The empire's most important service is that it provides a measure of security to Germany's many small states and free cities, without which some would be swallowed up by larger neighbors.

Its weakened condition renders it no longer able to dominate Germany, even when headed by ambitious and capable men such as Charles VI (r. 1711-40), who attempts unsuccessfully to breathe new life into the empire during the 1720s.

Later emperors return to the traditional Habsburg practice of using the imperial throne to benefit their own dynastic holdings.