The Austrian voter in historical perspective / Oliver Rathkolb -- Electoral change in Austria / Fritz Plasser and Peter A. Ulram -- It ain't over till it's over : electoral volatility in Austria from the 1970s through 2007 / Christoph Hofinger, Guenther Ogris, Eva Zeglovits -- Regional elections in Austria from 1986 to 2006 / Herbert Dachs -- Electoral strategies and performances of Austrian right-wing populism, 1986-2006 / Kurt R. Luther -- Framing campaigns : the media and Austrian elections / Gunther Lengauer -- Europeanization in disguise / Peter Gerlich -- The OVP lose, or did the SPO win the 2006 national parliamentary election? / Imma Palme -- Who is the winner? : the strategic dilemma of "the people's choice" / Anton Pelinka -- The conservative turn to socialism / Manfred Prisching

Compared to the late 1970s, when the Austrian voting behavior was characterized by extraordinary stability, low electoral volatility, and high turnout rates, the 1980s and 1990s stand for exceptional changes and ruptures elicited primarily by the rise of the right wing populist FPi (Freedom Party of Austria). This volume of collected papers investigates the permanent changes of Austrian voting behavior over the past forty years and analyzes causes and consequences for party competition and the electoral process in Austria during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Some of the contributions include Oliver Rathkolb's wide-ranging historical typology which addresses the Austrian voters in the twentieth century from the perspective of expanding voting laws and the struggle for political participation and integration. Based on compact trend data of Austrian Election Studies, Fritz Plasser and Peter A. Ulram present an empirical overview of trends and patterns in Austrian voting behavior covering the period from 1970 to 2006. Both the rising electoral volatility and the permanent increase of constant non-voters since the 1980s are dealt with. The development and dynamics of regional elections in Austria since the mid-1980s are reconstructed and related to the electoral behavior on the federal level. Kurt Richard Luther analyzes electoral strategies and the rise and fall of Austrian right wing populism from 1986 to 2006, focusing in particular upon changing styles of electoral mobilization. The media's role in framing the Austrian campaign discourse and the specific characteristics of campaign coverage in Austria are also in focus. This well-conceived volume also contains review essays, book reviews, and the annual review of Austrian politics. A mandatory selection for the bookshelves of all those interested in Austria or European Studies, this book provides invaluable information regarding the electoral process in Austria.

This book is a comprehensive study of long and short term factors influencing Austrians' vote choices. In doing so, it makes use of new data sets collected within the newly established Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES). Thus, the book adds to existing literature in several aspects: First, unlike previous snap-shot analyses, it provides a longitudinal perspective as our analyses cover the period of 1986–2008, a time span that witnesses major changes in the Austrian party system, such as the decreasing importance of the two main parties, the rise of the Green party, the ups and downs of the radical right parties in Austria, most prominently the FPÖ, and new coalitions. Second, for the last Austrian election in 2008, vote choice is analysed more comprehensively than it has been done in the past, following the theoretical concept of the funnel of causality.

This book explores the consequences of lowering the voting age to 16 from a global perspective, bringing together empirical research from countries where at least some 16-year-olds are able to vote. With the aim to show what really happens when younger people can take part in elections, the authors engage with the key debates on earlier enfranchisement and examine the lead-up to and impact of changes to the voting age in countries across the globe. The book provides the most comprehensive synthesis on this topic, including detailed case studies and broad comparative analyses. It summarizes what can be said about youth political participation and attitudes, and highlights where further research is needed. The findings will be of great interest to researchers working in youth political socialization and engagement, as well as to policymakers, youth workers and activists.

The essays in this volume are dedicated to the ups and downs of 100 years of Austrian democracy. On the occasion of the founding of the First Austrian Republic on November 12, 1918, Austrians celebrated the 100th anniversary of this event in recent Austrian history. Due to the deep divisions of the Austrian political camps (parties) democratic governance was troubled in the 1920s and ended in authoritarian rule in 1933. After World War II, the two principal political parties ÖVP (Christian conservatives) and SPÖ (Socialists), learned to work with one another in grand coalition governments and established a stable democratic regime. With the "Freedom Party" (FPÖ) turning populist, xenophobic and anti-European Union, paired with the arrival of new parties such as the environmentalist/progressive "Greens," the Austrian party system realigned in 1986 and new center-right coalitions (ÖVP and FPÖ) came to govern Austria. Today political campaigns in Austria, too, are run on social media and millennials have less faith in democracy.

First published in 1989. Political science in Austria is a relatively young discipline. It began to gradually establish itself in the 60's and only as recently as 1971 was it anchored in the curriculum of Austrian universities as a separate field of study. With the present book in English the editors hope to stimulate the interest of international social scientists in Austria, to overcome language barriers, and to make the topical problems and developments of Austrian democracy accessible to an international reading public. The book is intended to reflect the current state of a discipline-political science. However, it is also to be a contribution to the further development of this discipline. It should stimulate further, intensive and critical occupation with the theme "parties and the party system in Austria."

The constitutions of many countries guarantee the right to vote for all citizens. However, in reality, voters who are outside their home country when elections take place are often disenfranchised because of a lack of procedures enabling them to exercise that right. Voting from Abroad: The International IDEA Handbook examines the theoretical and practical issues surrounding external voting. It provides an overview of external voting provisions in 115 countries and territories around the world, including a map illustrating the regional spread.