ABSTRACT
Anton Pelinka identifies the generation gap, education, and gender as the forces of change and transformation of consociational democracy, replacing to a considerable extent the old cleavages of class and religion. While domestically Pelinka discerns a strong positive attitude towards neutrality, Austrian neutrality lost its raison d’etre with the end of the Cold War. Pelinka draws attention to a similar interdependence on the economic realm, where a hitherto successful system slowly disintegrated. Calming the fears of a second Anschluß as a consequence of the high dependence of Austria’s economy on Germany’s economy, Pelinka points out that economic dependence no longer correlates with political dependence. The classic political milieus no longer hold; political decisions deal with the short-run. Factors that disrupted stability and political harmony were new social movements challenging the philosophy of economic growth and male superiority. The social partnership has been unable to integrate the ecological and feminist movements and their political representatives.
