A New Political Era in Austria. From Brian Long

Though the dust has certainly has far from settled and is not likely to for some time yet, it may be possible to discern some larger trends in the recent political developments in Austria.

The conflict between the new regime and its opponents is increasingly taking on the features of a battle between new and old politics. Let me quote from a lecture given by Anthony Giddens (http://www.lse.ac.uk/Giddens/) last year:

'people are more interested in politics than they used to be. This includes the younger generation. Younger people are not, as has often been said a generation X, disaffected and alienated. What they are, or many of them are, is more cynical about the claims politicians make and concerned about questions that they feel politicians have little to say about. Many regard politics as a corrupt business, in which political leaders are self-interested, rather than having the good of their citizens at heart. Younger people see issues such as ecological questions, human rights, family policy and sexual freedom as most important.'

And further:

'The democratising of democracy also depends upon the fostering of a strong civic culture. This is absolutely central. Markets cannot produce such a culture...We shouldn't think of there being only two sectors of society, the state and the maketplace - or the public and the private... Civil society is the arena in which the democratic attitudes, including tolerance, have to be developed... It has to be constructed bottom up, through a revival of civic culture. A well functioning democracy has been aptly compared to a three-legged stool. Government, the economy and civil society need to be in balance. If one dominates over the others, unfortunate consequences follow.'

Giddens here gives a rough idea of what future democracy may look like. The people of Austria who are demonstrating, publishing web sites, financing newspaper advertising and otherwise organising resistance against a regime which is morally bankrupt and continues to ignore its critics' primary concerns on the questions of "civic culture" by trumpeting its coalition agreement from the halls of the EU to the pages of international newspapers are treading new territory on the road Giddens has sketched out.

In reaction, this bunker regime, in its underground, ferret-like existence barricades itself into the Parliament surrounded by an exclusion zone of 300 metres to protect itself against the population it is supposed to represent while at the same time employing a long train of lawyers to sue its critics. Safely ensconced in its Parliament building it summons up the tired-but-tested recipes of traditional parliamentary democracy: national sovereignty, 'the threat from the street', confrontationalist, nationalistic cohesion against the "enemy", and the all time favourite, "let's just sit out the storm".

Built from the outset on broken promises, the manipulation of history and out right lies, the new regime is increasingly painting itself into a corner in its desperate attempt to maintain its grip on power at all costs.

At the same time on the streets and in the new media both in Austria and internationally a new democratic movement is slowly sprouting (maybe with some affinities to the "Prague Spring") with a mistrust for traditional "leaders", political parties and centralised structures. This new movement is fundamentally pluralistic and includes many different interest streams from environmental issues, through workers', women's and minority rights, immigration, cultural policy to the handling of Europe's past.

This clash of the avant-garde and the rear-garde is certainly generating some heat in a traditional society such as Austria and rightly so. What is at stake here is the 'democratising of democracy' (Giddens) and to finish let me once again quote Giddens: ' If my argument is correct, the expansion of democracy is bound up with structural changes in world society. Nothing comes without a struggle. But the furthering of democracy at all levels is worth fighting for and it can be achieved.'