Austria confronted its Nazi past much later than Germany, and one scholar believes that’s why Austria was one of the first European countries to embrace right-wing and populist politics in 1980s and 90s.
Reinhard Heinisch is
Austria confronted its Nazi past much later than Germany, and one scholar believes that’s why Austria was one of the first European countries to embrace right-wing and populist politics in 1980s and 90s.
Reinhard Heinisch is the head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Salzburg, and the author of Populism, Proporz, Pariah: Austria Turns Right: Austrian Political Change, Its Causes and Repercussions.
Heinisch told KGOU’s World Views the old Austro-Hungarian empire was multi-ethnic. Germans in Austria were insecure about how “German” that actually were.
“That idea was therefore very powerful in Austria. How German are we? Then after World War II, it was not cool to be German,” Heinrisch said.
After the war, Austrians had to prove they were non-German, and created a completely Austrian identity. Many Austrians successfully convinced themselves they had nothing to do with Germany.
“They were surprised when they found out that actually they were quite culpable. There were many Austrians who were culprits,” Heinrisch said, who noted Hitler was born in Austria.
The 1980s and 90s brought a period of soul searching for Austria, as the country came to grips with its connection to Nazism. That same time period brought the first wave of immigrants and refugees.
“I think that spawned a right wing populist party much sooner than in Germany because some Austrians really resented foreigners telling Austrians they're simply not as wonderful as they thought,” Heinrisch said. “And in some ways that was the beginning of this sort of right wing trend in Austria that we see now pretty much everywhere else in Europe.”
Heinisch makes a distinction between far-right and populist parties. Right-wing parties have far more limited appeal with voters, but populists are like chameleons because they change their positions to attract votes.
“I think that's the more dangerous part. The populists are inherently interested in voters, so they will shift their positions in order to maximize voters,” Heinisch said.
The Austrian Freedom Party, for example, started as a post-Nazi party, Heinisch says. By the 1980s, it had shifted into populism. In the 1980s, it was the first party that advocated for Austria to join the European Union. Over the years, its position on the EU has changed. Heinisch says it used to be an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel party. Today, party members have embraced Israel. Instead, it has turned anti-Islam.
“They know exactly where the voters are and they position themselves accordingly. And that makes them very successful politically,” Heinisch said.
“If you ask them, ‘What's your position on the European Union?’ they give you three different answers. That allows them to pivot in different directions and create a much broader voter coalitions,” Heinisch said.
Austria has seen an influx of immigrants, primarily from the Middle East, over the past two decades. Heinisch says many European countries, including Austria, are not traditionally immigrant societies and integration has been difficult. Refugees and immigrants often congregate in large cities, and that leads to troubles.
“Austria is a very rigid society in terms of upward social mobility,” Heinrisch said. “People sort of stay in the class structure.”
Heinrisch says the greatest predictor to determine if a young person will seek higher education is if their parents attended university.
“Even if it's difficult for Austrian workers, for German people of working class background to attend university, can you imagine how difficult it is for somebody from a different culture country to speak the language?” Heinrisch said. “So often these people then trapped in in low level jobs. And that leads to frustration then in the second generation they feel, of course, both native and foreign and that creates problems.”
Immigrants in Austria have become more conscious of their ethnic roots. Arabic-speaking students will say, “inshallah,” or “God willing” to one another. Young women will wear headscarves. These changes have fueled populist politicians.
“That is a debate that right wing political operators can use to mobilize populations that are afraid of losing their status, their privileges, losing their place in society and I think that's what we see going on,” Heinisch said.
European populist parties filled a void that was created in the 1980s. Mainstream parties, like the conservatives and social democrats, occupied a place in the political center. Green parties took the political left, but Heinreich says there were no parties to represent on the right.
“Who represents traditional values? Who represents the old guard, old values? And the populist sort of moved into that area and they occupy it,” Heinisch said.
But Heinisch cautions that Europe's populist parties cannot be thought of as purely right wing, because they can also support left wing ideas, such as state invention in the economy. And s