World Country Guide

History and Government

History
Austria’s history since the 13th century is bound up with that of the Hapsburg family. The region was conquered by Charlemagne and remained a part of the Holy Roman Empire. By the 16th century, the Hapsburgs had gained a firm grip on the title of Emperor, although their power owed less to this often empty distinction than to the extensive family lands, many of which were to be found in Austria. Under Charles V, Austria was part of a vast empire; however, after Charles’ abdication in 1556, the Spanish and Germanic parts of his lands were separated, passing to his son and his brother, respectively.

The Holy Roman Empire as a political unit became more and more fragmented, leading one 18th-century observer to comment that it was ‘neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire’. It was formally abolished in August 1806, Francis II having already assumed the title of ‘Emperor of Austria’. Much of the northern and eastern parts of the Empire had by this time been absorbed into Prussia. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria – and in particular Vienna – became one of the major centres of the cultural renaissance associated with the terms Baroque and The Enlightenment; the musical achievements of this period are particularly notable. The Austrian Empire (by this time the Austro-Hungarian Empire) came to an end after World War I; Austria was declared a republic. In 1938 it was incorporated into the Third Reich but was liberated in 1945 and established as a republic once again under the protectorship of the allied powers.

Full independence was restored in July 1955. Austria has since been governed according to an orthodox Western European model. The major parties, the Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP – Austrian People’s Party) and the Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ – Social Democratic Party of Austria), enjoyed an effective monopoly of Austrian politics until the 1980s, which saw the rise of the far right and environmentalists. The decade also brought unusual and unwelcome international attention to Austria when the former UN Secretary-General, Kurt Waldheim, stood for the presidency; although a largely titular post, the presidency carries great symbolic significance. The controversy mainly concerned Waldheim’s role during World War II, in which he served as a German army intelligence officer, as well as his alleged knowledge of - and complicity in - mass deportations and executions.

Dogged by the allegations throughout his six-year tenure, Waldheim stood down in May 1992. His replacement at the election that followed was ÖVP candidate Thomas Klestil, who was re-elected to a second term in April 1998. The Waldheim affair came soon after the first appearance of the far-right party, Die Freiheitlichen, as a major electoral force. Originally known as the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ – Austrian Freedom Party), it was led by Joerg Haider, one of the new generation of ultra right-wing European politicians. Concerned to exclude Die Freiheitlichen, the SPÖ and ÖVP formed a series of coalition governments in the mid- and late 1990s, in the hope that Die Freiheitlichen would reach an electoral peak and fade from the political scene.

The folly of this strategy was illustrated in October 1999, when Die Freiheitlichen increased their vote again to 27 per cent. Now, even the SPÖ and ÖVP together were unable to secure a majority and Haider’s party entered government in January 2000. After a furious initial reaction abroad, which included diplomatic sanctions, the rest of the EU soon came to terms with the new government. This was led by the ÖVP’s Wolfgang Schüssel as Chancellor and Haider’s deputy, Suzanne Riess-Passer, as Vice-Chancellor. Against expectations, the government survived until the autumn of 2002, before an internal Freiheitlichen feud between party leader Haider and Riess-Passer spilled over into the administration as a whole and brought it down. The election that followed saw the collapse of the Freiheitlichen vote to just 10 per cent – a third of its 1999 level – but Chancellor Schüssel, who held on to his post, was unable to negotiate an alliance with either of the other two main parties – the SPÖ and the Greens – and was obliged to form a second ‘black-and-blue’ alliance with the Freiheitlichen (after their party colours). In early 2003, the People's Party agreed to form a government with the Freedom Party, who then proceeded to disband in 2003 when Haider set up the Alliance for Austria's Future. In April 2004, Heinzfische was elected President. Despite these many changes, Austria still succeeds in generating issues of right-wing contention: recent figures in late 2003 indicated that Austria had the most restrictive asylum laws in Europe.

Government
Austria is a federal republic with bicameral legislature. The 183-member National Council is elected for four years; the 64 members of Federal Council do not have fixed terms. The President, elected for a six-year term, is head of state. Executive power is held by the Chancellor, normally the leader of the largest party in parliament, who leads a cabinet of ministers.