Suchergebnisse

"In the June 2002 issue of International Sociology, Christian Fleck published a report
on the Austrian Sociological Association (OeGS) which was very critical of that
association and the achievements of Austrian sociology in general. In this paper, we
argue that this was a rather one-sided view. We show that the OeGS and its members
have been very active in fostering international contacts with sociologists from
neighbouring countries (Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland), by
organising common congresses and workshops, and publishing books. In the Eighties,
one of the most important achievements – comitted by Fleck - was the initiation of the
European Sociological Association and the organisation of the first European
Congress of Sociology in Vienna in 1992. Fleck not only disparages the achievement
of Austrian sociology in the Sixties and Seventies, but even more so those in the
Eighties and Nineties. Between 1950 and 2002, Austrian sociologists have published
nearly 1200 books (Haller 2004) thus contributing significantly to the establishment
of sociological research and thinking about contemporary Austrian society." (author's abstract)

Introduction. The article considers the problem of solving the Austrian issue by consolidating the country's neutrality in 1955 in the context of a possible modeling of the situation on the German issue. The consolidation of a neutral non-aligned status with Austria was the result of a broad domestic and foreign policy compromise. At the same time, the main features of the Austrian path to the neutrality of 1945–1955 are highlighted, making this one of the most well-known compromise precedents of the Cold War possible.

Methods and materials. The research of the model character of the "Austrian solution" of 1955 is possible only with regard to the intertwining historical contexts in which the development of the German and Austrian issues took place from 1945 to 1949. The author uses the comparative historical method in the article while comparing historical features of the development of the German and Austrian issues between 1945 and 1955 and comparing different views and concepts of historians. The information base of the article consists of narrative and documentary sources, as well as a wide range of scientific research works of Austrian, German and Russian researchers.

Analysis. The main internal reasons for the successful resolution of the Austrian issue are the existence of the pro-Western government elected in 1945, the unity of the main political forces of Austria in the matter of restoring sovereignty, and the personal role of Chancellor Julius Raab. The main international reasons are the change in the course of the USSR within the framework of the peaceful coexistence policy, as well as the reciprocal cooperation policy of the Western Allies. The author considers the problem both in historical and in historiographical perspectives.

Results. The possibility of applying the "Austrian solution" to the situation with the divided Germany became the subject of a sharp historiographical dispute, which was called "Model Debate" in Austria. Two famous historians, Rolf Steininger and Michael Gehler, developed a concept confirming the model character of the Austrian solution to the situation with Germany. Most of Austrian historians tend to view the successful resolution of the Austrian issue as a single precedent, or phenomenon, of the Cold War. When comparing the situation with Germany and the attempts to model the Austrian version of it, they point to the different potential and significance of the countries for the Western Allies and the USSR, different goals of foreign policy of victorious powers in the German and Austrian issues.

In der internationalen Politikwissenschaft ist Österreich vor allem für sein stabiles Parteiensystem und den Wahlerfolgen der FPÖ bekannt. Im Bereich der vergleichenden Wahlforschung wurde Österreich bisher aufgrund unzureichender Daten oft vernachlässigt. Das Buch ?The Austrian Voter? versucht diese Lücke zu schließen und zugleich ein besseres Verständnis für das Wahlverhalten der ÖsterreichInnen zu schaffen. Basierend auf Daten der Österreichischen Wahlstudie (AUTNES), bietet das Buch eine umfassende Analyse von Lang- und Kurzzeitfaktoren, welche das Wahlverhalten beeinflussen . Das Buch liefert dadurch einen wertvollen Beitrag zur derzeit existierenden Literatur: Erstens umfasst der Zeitrahmen der Analyse die Jahre 1986 bis 2008. Während dieser Zeit kam es im österreichischen Parteiensystem zu mehreren bedeutsamen Veränderungen, u.a. dem Bedeutungsverlust der beiden Großparteien SPÖ und ÖVP, dem Aufstieg der Grünen, dem Auf und Ab der rechtspopulitische Parteien, insbesondere der FPÖ, und damit verbunden der Bildung neuer Koalititonen. Dennoch konnten die AutorInnen eine gewisse Stabilität ausfindig machen: Zumindest die Wahlentscheidung für die beiden Großparteien basiert nach wie vor auf den tradtionellen gesellschaftlichen Konflikten, welche sich in der Lager-Mentalität widerspiegeln. Des Weiteren konnte die Nationalratswahl von 2008 aufgrund der AUTNES-Daten umfassender analysiert werden als dies in der Vergangenheit möglich war. Neben den sozio-demographischen und sozio-ökonomischen Faktoren untersuchen die AutorInnen auch den Einfluss sozio-psychologischer Variablen sowie Issue-Poistionen der Wähler, welche sich vor allem für die Wahl der Grünen und der rechtspopulitischen Parteien als ausschlaggebend entpuppt haben. Das Buch geht also auf mehrere aktuelle Entwicklungen österreichischer Politik ein und ermöglicht dadurch einerseits die Einbindung Österreichs in die vergleichende Wahlforschung und liefert andererseits eine grundlegende Vorbereitung auf die anstehende Nationalratswahl 2013.

Introduction. The article considers the problem of solving the Austrian issue by consolidating the country's neutrality in 1955 in the context of a possible modeling of the situation on the German issue. The consolidation of a neutral non-aligned status with Austria was the result of a broad domestic and foreign policy compromise. At the same time, the main features of the Austrian path to the neutrality of 1945–1955 are highlighted, making this one of the most well-known compromise precedents of the Cold War possible.

Methods and materials. The research of the model character of the "Austrian solution" of 1955 is possible only with regard to the intertwining historical contexts in which the development of the German and Austrian issues took place from 1945 to 1949. The author uses the comparative historical method in the article while comparing historical features of the development of the German and Austrian issues between 1945 and 1955 and comparing different views and concepts of historians. The information base of the article consists of narrative and documentary sources, as well as a wide range of scientific research works of Austrian, German and Russian researchers.

Analysis. The main internal reasons for the successful resolution of the Austrian issue are the existence of the pro-Western government elected in 1945, the unity of the main political forces of Austria in the matter of restoring sovereignty, and the personal role of Chancellor Julius Raab. The main international reasons are the change in the course of the USSR within the framework of the peaceful coexistence policy, as well as the reciprocal cooperation policy of the Western Allies. The author considers the problem both in historical and in historiographical perspectives.

Results. The possibility of applying the "Austrian solution" to the situation with the divided Germany became the subject of a sharp historiographical dispute, which was called "Model Debate" in Austria. Two famous historians, Rolf Steininger and Michael Gehler, developed a concept confirming the model character of the Austrian solution to the situation with Germany. Most of Austrian historians tend to view the successful resolution of the Austrian issue as a single precedent, or phenomenon, of the Cold War. When comparing the situation with Germany and the attempts to model the Austrian version of it, they point to the different potential and significance of the countries for the Western Allies and the USSR, different goals of foreign policy of victorious powers in the German and Austrian issues.

THREE STRATEGIES WHICH MAY EMERGE OUT OF POLITICIANS' CONCEPTS OF RATIONALITY (PROBLEMS SOLVING, AGENDA MANAGEMENT, CREATION OF CONSENSUS) ARE APPLIED TO ONE OF THE MAIN FEATURES OF AUSTRIAN POLITICS, NAMELY THE DIFFERENTATION OF POLICY SECTORS DOMINATED EITHER BY POLITICAL PARTIES OR INTEREST GROUPS. THE EQUAL TREATMENT ACT, WHICH HAD BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE CORPORATIST ARENA TO THE ARENA OF THE PARTY SYSTEM, INVOLVED THE RATIONALITIES OF BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTEREST GROUPS. THIS PAPER ANALYSES THE 'EXTENDED' PROCESS OF LEGISLATION OF THIS LAW (INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATION). THE EMPIRICAL FINDINGS ARE THEN LINED TO THE THEORETICAL PROPOSITIONS ABOUT THE RATIONALITIES OF THE RESPECTIVE POLITICAL ACTORS. FINALLY, HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE CONDITIONS OF ISSUE TRANSFERS FROM THE CORPORATIST ARENA INTO THE ARENA OF THE PARTY SYSTEM ARE SUGGESTED.

Abstract. Three strategies which may emerge out of politicians' concepts of rationality (problems solving, agenda management, creation of consensus) are applied to one of the main features of Austrian politics, namely the differentation of policy sectors dominated either by political parties or interest groups. The Equal Treatment Act, which had been transferred from the corporatist arena to the arena of the party system, involved the rationalities of both political parties and interest groups. This paper analyses the 'extended' process of legislation of this law (including implementation). The empirical findings are then linked to the theoretical propositions about the rationalities of the respective political actors. Finally, hypotheses about the conditions of issue transfers from the corporatist arena into the arena of the party system are suggested.

Parliamentary speeches are an important communication channel for political parties. A growing amount of literature suggests that parties use them to send policy signals in party competition. Although this perspective has become more popular in the literature, there is a lack of studies that focus on issue competition. I take a step towards closing this research gap by using a text‐as‐data approach to analyze parliamentary speeches in the Austrian Nationalrat. The data set consists of more than 56,700 speeches given by MPs between 2002 and 2019. I apply a semi‐supervised technique to classify the speeches at sentence level into 20 issue categories. The analysis shows that, despite the constraining parliamentary context (e.g., legislative agenda), parties put comparatively strong emphasis on their issue preferences. The magnitude of this effect, however, depends on a party's legislative agenda‐setting power. These findings confirm the presence and specific nature of issue competition in parliamentary speeches.

When Austria joined the EU in 1995 it had to find its place in a substantially altered world order. Yet, rather than conceiving its membership in the EU as an opportunity to reenergize its foreign policy through Europeanization, Austria has displayed little interest in developing an active foreign policy profile within, or through, the EU. While membership in the EU meant a broadening of Austria's foreign policy agenda – as Austria became involved in a broad range of international issues and started to participate in the multi-level negotiation process of the EU - its main contributions to European foreign poli- cy occurred in areas close to its national interest, as exemplified by its active role in the Western Balkans. Simultaneously, EU membership placed considerable constraints on Austria's formerly independent national foreign policy, especially on Austria's neutrality. This special issue brings together different international scholars with a longstanding expertise on dif- ferent aspects of Austrian foreign policy that they will cover to take stock of the Europeanization of Austrian foreign policy two decades after it joined the EU.

"Whether and, if so, in what sense Joseph A. Schumpeter (1883-1950) and Ludwig von Mises
(1881-1973) may both be classified as 'Austrian economists' is a controversial issue. In terms
of their biographical background they were, of course, Austrian nationals, and as students of
Böhm-Bawerk and von Wieser both qualify in a formal sense as third-generation members of
the Austrian School. Yet, whether they so qualify in a substantive sense as well is much more
questionable. Apparent differences between their views on a number of issues have often been
cited as evidence for a paradigmatic divide between, on the one side, Mises as the true
messenger of the Mengerian heritage and the principal inspirer for the modern revival of
Austrian economics and, on the other side, Schumpeter as a renegade who departed from
constitutive tenets of the Austrian paradigm. While this view has long been dominant among
historians of economic thought, Mises' student Israel Kirzner and others have more recently
called for a re-evaluation of Schumpeter's place in the tradition of Austrian economics. The
purpose of the present paper is to take a closer look at the mixture of commonalities and
disagreements in the writings of Schumpeter and Mises that have given rise to the ambivalent
evaluations of their 'Austrian' credentials. Section 1 offers a few comments on their common
Viennese background and their different personalities, section 2 looks at Mises' and
Schumpeter's respective methodological views, section 3 contrasts their arguments on the
socialist calculation issue, section 4 compares their outlooks at entrepreneurship, and section
5 draws some conclusions." [author's abstract]