Politische Parteien#

Political Parties, political groups mostly organised on a national scale to bring together citizens holding similar political views for the purpose of gaining influence at the national level and formulating political demands.

The mass parties typical of modern democracies, with a party machinery of full-time party officers and headed by full-time politicians, did not emerge in Austria until the last third of the 19th century, when the Social-Democrats pioneered this development. Initially, these parties were organised along ideological lines and were in many cases hostile to one another. Thus, three political "camps" which first emerged in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy continue to exist in the Second Republic: the Christian Social, the Social Democrat, and the German Nationalist/Liberal camps. The First Republic was dominated by political conflict, which culminated in the Civil War of 1934, the prohibition of the Social-Democratic Labour Party and the establishment of authoritarian rule supported by the Catholic camp. After the years of dictatorship under National Socialism it was the political parties that re-established the Republic in 1945 (as they had also founded the First Republic in 1918). The leaders of the principal parties, OeVP ( Oesterreichische Volkspartei) and SPOe ( Sozialdemokratische Partei Oesterreichs) agreed on a pragmatic political course of cooperation ("Grand Coalition"). The former ideologically oriented parties developed into parties seeking to integrate the masses ("popular parties") by letting themselves be guided by election results. At the same time, their political platforms tended to become increasingly similar. General prosperity, the reduced significance of social background and religious views as a cause of social conflict, and the decrease in the number of voters whose voting behaviour was chiefly dictated by tradition (farmers and workers voting for the OeVP and SPOe, respectively) also helped to diminish political polarisation. The proportion of members of the "new middle classes" (white-collar workers, civil servants), whose party loyalty appears to be flagging, has increased among the members and voters of both the OeVP and SPOe.

The economic upswing and social stability of the Second Republic initially benefited the "large" parties: During the 1960s and 1970s parliamentary (National Council) elections invariably gave the OeVP and SPOe approximately 90% of the votes. In the elections of 1990, their combined vote declined to 75%. Cases of political corruption and growing doubts about the ability of the government parties to solve current political problems have enhanced the readiness of the general public to criticise the political parties. In consequence, the proportion of "floating" voters has gone up (1990 National Council election: 17%, 1994: 19%). A new party, the Gruene Alternative ( Green Parties), which has highlighted issues long neglected in political discourse (in particular environmental issues), has been represented in the National Council since 1986. Formerly a small party, the FPOe, ( Freiheitliche Partei Oesterreichs)succeeded in presenting itself as a protest party. In the 1994 election, it rose to a medium-sized party which obtained 22,6 % of votes. In 1993 the Liberales Forum was formed out of a protest group which detached itself from the FPOe.

Criticism of the large parties has fallen on fertile ground since Austria can be considered the prototype of a "party state": Membership in both the OeVP and SPOe is extraordinarily high by international standards. The political parties not only determine the activities of the Nationalrat and the Federal Government, but are also represented in the public administration, the major Interest Groups ( Chambers, the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions ), in public radio and TV ( ORF), in the nationalised enterprises and in schools. Since the importance of the media in modern democracies favours the access of party leaders to information and thus enables them to organise their election campaigns efficiently, the influence of the rank-and-file members has been greatly reduced.

Literature#