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In-Depth Information
the first victim of National Socialism for many years, Austria now had to admit to its
own active participation in the regime's crimes. This marked a more critical approach to
Austria's role during the Nazi dictatorship.
When Governor Schwarzenegger allowed an execution to go ahead in California in 2005, some Austri-
ans wanted to revoke his Austrian citizenship. Austria first abolished capital punishment in 1787.
'Westernisation' of Austria
According to the Hungarian political historian Anton Pelinka, Austria spent the first few
decades of the Second Republic defining and asserting its own homegrown political and
social path, but since the mid-1980s has followed a course of 'Westernisation'. Two fea-
tures of this are its membership of the EU since 1995 and adoption of the euro currency
when it was introduced in 1999.
The political consensus that saw the two larger parties, the SPÖ and Österreichisches
Volkspartei (ÖVP; Austrian People's Party), completely dominate politics has given way
to a polarisation. In 1986 Die Grünen (The Greens) party was founded, with close links
to a similar ecologically focused party in Germany. On the other side of the political
spectrum is the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ; Freedom Party of Austria), which
was founded in 1955 and had a high proportion of former Nazis in its ranks. In 1986,
however, its charismatic leader Jörg Haider reinvented the party as a populist right-wing
party with a focus on immigration issues, asylum laws and integration - issues that today
figure strongly in its policies.
In 2000 the FPÖ formed a federal coalition for the first time with the ÖVP, resulting in
regular 'Thursday demonstrations' against the FPÖ within Austria to protest its participa-
tion in government, and in sanctions imposed on Austria by other EU members. Splinter-
ing has continued in recent years, best exemplified by the formation in 2012 of Team
Stronach, founded by Austria's most powerful industrialist, Frank Stronach, with a polit-
ical platform bearing many of the hallmarks of right-wing populism.
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