Austria – Still the Second Republic or already the Third?
Austria – Still the Second Republic or already the Third?

Summary/Abstract: For a long time Austria’s political system erected after WW II – the Second Republic – looked like the perfect embodiment of first highly unlikely but in the end successful democratization. From a current perspective was it a real success story and can it today serve as a model for other states aiming at democratic consolidation? Austria was a success story (though with some dark sides and ‘Lebenslügen’) but this was due to non-reproducible beneficial external conditions and Austria’s geopolitical position. It can definitely not serve as a model case under different and unprecedented conditions. Moreover some of its earlier advantages and the inability to come to terms with it in a changed political environment are haunting Austria today. Besides problems like globalization it is upon those flaws that a rightist populist political force like the FPÖ can mobilize mass support and win elections.

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