ABSTRACT
The election of Kurt Josef Waldheim to the federal presidency in 1986 was the first important event which polarized Austria and led to international critique on Austria, based on Austria's post-1945 attitude to define itself just as a victim of the Nazi rule. Consociational democracy Austrian-style is the history of selfelimination by success. The old elite groups were able to bridge the deep gaps from the past so successfully that the gaps disappeared. The end of the Cold War caused Austria to rethink its traditional policy of neutrality. The transformation of Austrian politics was first and foremost a dramatic change of the electoral behavior. Austrian politics is more and more explainable by patterns already established in other socially and economically advanced societies. The transformation is not changing Austria into a heaven of perfect harmony; in fact, quite the opposite is true.
