ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Austria. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Austria. Austria's right-wing, nationalist Freedom Party suffered another in a series of electoral setbacks in 2001, losing ground in Vienna's municipal elections. Austrians can change their government democratically. The country's provinces possess considerable latitude in local administration and can check federal power by electing members of the upper house of parliament. While Austrian media are considered free, the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF) holds a monopoly on the transmission of domestic television programs. Attempts by immigrants to enter Austria illegally rose significantly in 2001, breeding greater domestic resentment over the large proportion of foreigners living in the country.
