Neutrality in Austria

1. Auflage 2001
ISBN: 978-0-7658-0774-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Inc

Buch, Englisch, 386 Seiten, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 576 g

Reihe: Contemporary Austrian Studies

After Stalin's death, during a respite in Cold War tensions in 1955, Austria managed to rid itself of a quadripartite occupation regime and become a neutral state. As the Cold War continued, Austria's policy of neutrality helped make this small country into an important mediator of East-West differences, and neutrality became a crucial part of Austria's postwar identity. In the post-Cold War era Austrian neutrality seems to demand redefinition. The work addresses such issues as what neutrality means when Austria's neighbors are joining NATO? What is the difference between Austrian neutrality in 1955 and 2000? In remaining apart from NATO, do Austrian elites risk their nation's national security? Is Austria a "free rider," too stingy to contribute to Western defense? Has the neutralist mentalit become such a crucial part of Austrian postwar identity that its abandonment will threaten civil society? These questions are addressed in this latest in the prestigious Contemporary Austrian Studies series.
The volume emerged from the Wittgenstein Research Center project on "Discourse, Politics, and Identity," an interdisciplinary investigation of the meaning of Austrian neutrality. The first two chapters analyze the current meaning of Austrian neutrality. Karin Liebhart records narrative interviews with former presidents Rudolf Kirchschlger and Kurt Waldheim, both central political actors present at the creation and implementation of Austria's postwar neutrality. Gertraud Benke and Ruth Wodak provide in-depth analysis of a debate on Austrian National Television on "NATO and Neutrality," a microcosm of Austrian popular opinion that exposed all positions and ideological preferences on neutrality. The historian Oliver Rathkolb surveys international perceptions of Austrian neutrality over the past half-century. For comparative contrast David Irwin and John Wilson apply Foucault's theoretical framework to the history and debates on neutrality in Ireland. Political scientists Heinz Grtner and Paul Luif provide examples of how Austrian neutrality has been handled in the past and today. Michael Gehler analyzes Austria's response to the Hungarian crisis of 1956 and Klaus Eisterer reviews the Austrian legation's handling of the 1968 Czechoslovak crisis.
Gnter Bischof is professor of history and executive director of Center Austria at the University of New Orleans. Anton Pelinka is professor of political science at the University of Innsbruck and director of the Institute of Conflict Research in Vienna. Ruth Wodak is professor in the linguistics department at the University of Vienna and director of the research center "Discourse, Politics, Identity" at the Austrian Academy of Science.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pelinka, Anton

Wodak, Ruth

Bischof, Gunter

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Topical Essays; Austrian Neutrality; Transformation and Semantic Change of Austrian Neutrality; Neutrality versus NATO: The Analysis of a TV-Discussion on the Contemporary Function of Austria’s Neutrality 1; International Perceptions of Austrian Neutrality; Sovereignty and the “Unnatural”: Fianna Fáil and Why the Anglo-Irish Agreement Could Not Be a Neutral Act; Neutrality Must Change; Austria’s Permanent Neutrality—Its Origins, Development, and Demise 1; Nontopical Essays; The Hungarian Crisis and Austria 1953-58: A Foiled Model Case?; The Austrian Legation in Prague and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1968; Historiography Roundtable; Gerald Stourzh’s Opus Magnum; The Soviet Godfathers of Austrian Neutrality; An American Perspective; The British Perspective of Austrian Neutrality; An Austrian Perspective; Reply to the Commentators; Review Essay; Austria after 1945—Success Story? Heroic Age? Review of Recent Literature; Book Reviews; Austria’s Escape from the Cold War; Claudia Kuretsidis-Haider and Winfried Garscha, eds. Keine Abrechnung: NS-Verbrechen, Justiz und Gesellschaft in Europa nach 1945. Leipzig-Wien: Akademische Verlagsanstalt, 1998. Paper. Pp. 488.; Egon and Heinrich Berger von Waldenegg, Biographie im Spiegel: Die Memoiren zweier Generationen (Vienna: Böhlau, 1998); Borders, Self-Determination, and the Emerging Concept of “Self-Governance”; Lothar Höbelt, Von der vierten Partei zur dritten Kraft. Die Geschichte des VdU (Graz: Leopold Stocker, 1999); Annual Review; Survey of Austrian Politics Austria 1999; List of Authors

Über Autor(innen)

Ruth Wodak, Anton Pelinka; Gunter Bischof