Koalition#

Coalition, an agreement between two or more political parties to form and maintain a joint government, usually confirmed by a written coalition agreement. The coalition agreement comprises the terms the parties have agreed upon with regard to the sharing out of federal and government offices and joint political objectives.

In Austria the Social Democrats, the Christian Socialists, and the German Nationalists established a coalition government at the beginning of the First Republic, in 1918. It comprised all the parties represented in parliament ("Konzentrationsregierung") under the leadership of Federal Chancellor K. Renner (of the Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei, SDAP), and aimed at tackling economic reconstruction with united energies. This was followed in 1919 by a grand coalition made up of Social Democrats and Christian Socialists, which dissolved in 1920. Until the establishment of the authoritarian regime of the corporative state in 1934, Austria was governed by coalitions of conservative parties, while the Social Democrats remained in opposition ( First Republic). In April 1945 the 3 authorised parties formed a coalition. This coalition government, consisting of the Austrian People's Party (Oesterreichische Volkspartei, OeVP), the Austrian Socialist Party (Sozialistische Partei Oesterreichs, SPOe), and the Austrian Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei Oesterreichs, KPOe) was in power until 1947; in 1947-1966 Austria was governed by a grand coalition, followed by a phase of one-party governments (OeVP 1966-1970, SPOe 1970-1983). An erosion of the large political parties, which has made absolute majorities impossible since the 1980s, led first to the (small) coalition of SPOe with the Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Oesterreichs, FPOe, 1983-1987); then the SPOe and the OeVP again formed a grand coalition, in order to realise forthcoming major projects, in particular the integration of Austria into the EU (then EC), on as broad a basis as possible. After the 1994 election, the SPOe-OeVP coalition was renewed.

Literature#