Austria in the European Union

Book abstract:

After acceding to the European Union (EU) in 1995, with an overwhelming 66.6% of the nation behind the move, Austria became one of the success stories of the EU. However, this success, within five years, soon became more complicated. This book deals with both Austria's rise and consolidation within the EU, and its ever-present struggle to come to terms with its history. Along with Austria's role in World War II, for example, the book assesses the more recent problem of Nazism and Haider's Freedom Party.

In dealing with a range of twentieth century subjects and issues, the work is structured into three major parts, with a 'forum' section towards the end, which includes review essays and book reviews. The first part incorporates work on the EU and fundamental rights, but is largely made up of work pertaining to Austria and foreign policy perspectives, like regionalisation and globalisation in foreign policy since 1918, the question of political power in the EU, and a comparative analysis of the Austrian and German presidencies of the EU. Part three turns to domestic politics. It provides perspectives on Jörg Haider and the Freedom Party's so-called 'revolution', the disintegration of Austria's welfare state and the EU's sanction measures against Austria in 2000. There is then an essay on the 'Jewish Questions' in postwar Austria, before the forum section goes on to scrutinise Austrian World War II crimes against Jews, with analyses of Aryanisation, the deportation of Jews, and the question of bringing the holocaust to trial.

The book is intended for political scientists, historians and legal scholars with an interest in the field.

This publication is distributed by the Eurospan Group.

• Primary Source

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