ABSTRACT
This chapter studies counterprotest against the far right in Austria, connecting to research on party politics and social movement studies. In recent Austrian politics, “civil society” actors typically understood “democracy protection” as opposition to the Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) and the subcultural milieu of the German-nationalist Drittes Lager (Third Camp). The first section provides an overview of the setting: Austria’s political system is marked by a relatively calm protest arena and the presence of an established far-right Lager. The second section analyses the most prominent recent protests against the far right: mobilisation against the Wiener-Korporationsrings-Ball (from 1952 to 2012)/Wiener Akademikerball (from 2013 onwards). Insights gained from the study of political protest examine the conditions for the activists’ (lack of) success or, more precisely, their gains and losses. The third section discusses the strengths and weaknesses of civil democracy protection in Austria in general, also in relation to party politics, pointing to the complexities behind the concepts of “civil society” and “democracy protection” in the context of a stable real-existing democracy that has regularly seen the FPÖ in national and regional government.
