ABSTRACT
In Austria, one of Europe’s smallest states, nothing much happened: the governing majority was once again returned to office, fighting off a challenge from right-wing opponents. But the circumstances of the Austrian election may prove the better, and also the more disturbing, guide to the European situation in coming years. In a country whose earlier history was marked by geographical amputation, economic collapse, civil war, occupation, and defeat, Austrians were on the whole pleased with the stabilizing benefits of these conventions. But in 1994 the foundations of Austria’s post-war system began to crumble. Austria’s budget deficits are small by European standards and neither of the major parties would risk serious cuts in the complex and impressive system of public services and social security that benefit all their constituents. The Austrian Freedom Party was founded in 1956, heir to the League of Independents.
