Vol. XXXIII · 2002 · pp. 1-14 (14)

Austrian Exceptionalism

Anton Pelinka

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Abstract

Over the past few decades, Austria's specific position among other European countries has been seen from ever-changing viewpoints. In the 1970s and early 1980s, neutrality and corporatism, more than any other factors, created an academic and political interest in contemporary Austria. Neutrality and corporatism were seen as qualities linked to Austria due to its geopolitical status as well as its status as a smaller country. Austria's neutrality was seen as a very specific Austrian answer to the Cold War, to the country's geopolitical position, and to the post-1945 history Austria had to accept as a given condition.1 In particular, neutrality distinguished Austria from the two Germanys, which were completely integrated into the two bloc systems of the East and West. Austria's corporatism, called the Social Partnership, fit the different stereotypes of the Austrian way of life. Other countries may have had their class conflicts, but Austria seemed capable of happily combining capitalism and socialism.2 The Austrian pattern of an institutionalized network among labor, business, and government gave Austria a particular flair, a successful "third way" between free enterprise and central planning.