Austrians like to think of their country as an “Insel der Seligen” – an island of the blessed. The notion has a long genealogy, usually attributed to a visit by Pope Paul VI in 1971. At the time, the pope characterized the country as an “isola felice.” No matter the origins, most Austrians at the time would not have disagreed with the pope. Neither would have outsiders. Both in Austria and abroad, Austria stood for “an ideal-typical place where people live happily and harmonically in affluence and without conflicts”.
Recent history has largely dispelled this idyllic notion. During the past three decades, Austrian politics has witnessed waves of political instability and turmoil, reflecting a number of profound tensions and conflicts in Austrian society, which fundamentally tarnished the country’s image abroad. Among the most prominent examples was the rise of Jörg Haider in the 1990s to national and international notoriety. More than any other prominent politician at the time, the new leader of the FPÖ embodied the dramatically growing appeal of radical right-wing populism in advanced liberal democracies. It was under his aegis, that in 2000, the FPÖ was accepted as a coalition partner by the center-right ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party), provoking widespread concern among EU member states.
Haider is long gone, his reputation more than tarnished. So is his successor, Heinz-Christian Strache, who managed to disgrace himself and his party by allowing himself to be conned. The voters’ response was swift and ruthless. In the 2019 national election, the FPÖ suffered dramatic losses, rendering the party unfit to be taken seriously as a potential coalition partner. As it were, Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), as always the shrewd tactician, negotiated a deal with the Greens, leaving the FPÖ in the rain.
