After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Austria transformed itself from an empire to a small Central European country. Formerly an important player in international affairs, the new republic was quickly sidelined by the European concert of powers. The enormous losses of territory and population in Austria's post-Habsburg state of existence, however, did not result in a political, economic, cultural, and intellectual black hole. The essays in the twentieth anniversary volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies argue that the small Austrian nation found its place in the global arena of the twentieth century and made a mark both on Europe and the world. Be it Freudian psychoanalysis, the “fin-de-siècle” Vienna culture of modernism, Austro-Marxist thought, or the Austrian School of Economics, Austrian hinkers and ideas were still wielding a notable impact on the world. Alongside these cultural and intellectual dimensions, Vienna remained the Austrian capital and reasserted its strong position in Central European and international business and finance. Innovative Austrian companies are operating all over the globe. This volume also examines how the globalizing world of the twentieth century has impacted Austrian demography, society, and political life. Austria's place in the contemporary world is increasingly determined by the forces of the European integration process. European Union membership brings about convergence and a regional orientation with ramifications for Austria's global role. Austria emerges in the essays of this volume as a highly globalized country with an economy, society, and political culture deeply grounded in Europe. The globalization of Austria, it appears, turns out to be in many instances an “Europeanization.”

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Austria transformed itself from an empire to a small Central European country. Formerly an important player in international affairs, the new republic was quickly sidelined by the European concert of powers. The enormous losses of territory and population in Austria's post-Habsburg state of existence, however, did not result in a political, economic, cultural, and intellectual black hole. The essays in the twentieth anniversary volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies argue that the small Austrian nation found its place in the global arena of the twentieth century and made a mark both on Europe and the world. Be it Freudian psychoanalysis, the “fin-de-siècle” Vienna culture of modernism, Austro-Marxist thought, or the Austrian School of Economics, Austrian hinkers and ideas were still wielding a notable impact on the world. Alongside these cultural and intellectual dimensions, Vienna remained the Austrian capital and reasserted its strong position in Central European and international business and finance. Innovative Austrian companies are operating all over the globe. This volume also examines how the globalizing world of the twentieth century has impacted Austrian demography, society, and political life. Austria's place in the contemporary world is increasingly determined by the forces of the European integration process. European Union membership brings about convergence and a regional orientation with ramifications for Austria's global role. Austria emerges in the essays of this volume as a highly globalized country with an economy, society, and political culture deeply grounded in Europe. The globalization of Austria, it appears, turns out to be in many instances an “Europeanization”.

This book for children (roughly 9 to 12 years old) gives an overview of Europe and explains briefly what the European Union is and how it works.--Publisher's description.

Austria joined the European Union in 1995, with the overwhelming support of its citizenry. In June 1994, a record 66.6 percent of the Austrian population voted in favor of joining the Union, and Austria acceded on January 1, 1995. Only three years later, in the second half of 1998, Austria assumed its first presidency of the European Union. Its competent conduct of the Union's business enhanced its reputation. The sense that Austria was a role model collapsed overnight, after a new conservative People's Party (iVP/FPi) coalition government was formed in Austria in early February 2000. Austria became Europe's nightmare. This volume has two purposes. The first is to assess Austria's first five years in the European Union. The second is Austria's ongoing struggle with its past. Heinrich Neisser evaluates and assesses Austria's commitment to the European Union. Thomas Angerer offers a long-term perspective of regionalization and globalization trends in Austrian foreign affairs. Waldemar Hummer analyzes contradictions between Austrian neutrality and Europe's emerging common security policy. Johannes Pollak and Sonja Puntscher Rieckmann look at current debates over weighing future voting rights in the European Commission. Michael Huelshoff evaluates Austria's EU presidency in 1998 and compares it to the subsequent 1999 German presidency. Gerda Falkner examines the withering away of the previously much admired Austrian welfare state. Walter Manoschek scrutinizes the Nazi roots of Jorg Haider's Freedom Party. Michael Gehler critiques the EU sanctions and bemoans the absence of mediation through transnational Christian conservative parties. In reviewing how Austria deals with World War II, Richard Mitten investigates discourses on victimhood in postwar Austria and the place of Jews in this process. A "Roundtable" presents overwhelming evidence of Austrians' deep involvement in Nazi war crimes, and includes articles by Sabine Loitfellner and Winfried Garscha. This addition to the Contemporary Austrian Studies series will be welcomed by political scientists, historians and legal scholars, particularly those with a strong interest in European affairs.

“A dark comedy of manners packed with urgency” (H. W. Vail, Vanity Fair), The Capital is an instant classic of world literature. A highly inventive novel of ideas written in the rich European tradition, The Capital transports readers to the cobblestoned streets of twenty-first-century Brussels. Chosen as the European Union’s symbolic capital in 1958, this elusive setting has never been examined so intricately in literature. Translated with "zest, pace and wit" (Spectator) by Jamie Bulloch, Robert Menasse's The Capital plays out the effects of a fiercely nationalistic “union.” Recalling the Balzacian conceit of assembling a vast parade of characters whose lives conspire to form a driving central plot, Menasse adapts this technique with modern sensibility to reveal the hastily assembled capital in all of its eccentricities. We meet, among others, Fenia Xenopoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently “promoted” to the Directorate-General for Culture. When tasked with revamping the boring image of the European Commission with the Big Jubilee Project, she endorses her Austrian assistant Martin Sussman’s idea to proclaim Auschwitz as its birthplace—of course, to the horror of the other nation states. Meanwhile, Inspector Émile Brunfaut attempts to solve a gritty murder being suppressed at the highest level; Matek, a Polish hitman who regrets having never become a priest, scrambles after taking out the wrong man; and outraged pig farmers protest trade restrictions as a brave escapee squeals through the streets. These narratives and more are masterfully woven, revealing the absurdities—and real dangers—of a fracturing Europe. A tour de force from one of Austria’s most esteemed novelists, The Capital is a mordantly funny and piercingly urgent saga of the European Union, and an aerial feat of sublime world literature.

Against the backdrop of combating the financial and economic crisis in the European Union for the past decade, this volume strives to explore the manifold impacts the prevailing crisis management has on the further alignment of European Integration. The efforts targeted at overcoming the financial and economic crisis evoked far-reaching consequences on the societal, economic, and political level within European member states, which in turn challenge the institutional alignment, democratic legitimacy and economic coherence of the European Union. Taking into account current developments in the EU, the contributions presented in this volume focus on the ‘fault lines’ in the integration process, i.e. questions of policy coherence, democratic accountability, financialization, militarization, migration, gendered social and economic asymmetries as well as the rise of populist and extreme right-wing parties. The volume focuses on how these different developments come together by relating aspects of transdisciplinary research to uncover the fault lines in the European integration project in the subsequent chapters. ContentEconomic and Democratic Governance • Right Wing Populism and Right Extreme Parties • Financialization and Militarization • Social Exclusion, Welfare and Migration Policies EditorsProf. (FH) Dr. Stefanie Wöhl, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Prof. (FH) Dr. Elisabeth Springler, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Mag. Martin Pachel, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. Dr. Bernhard Zeilinger, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna.

On January 1 1995, Austria and Sweden joined the European Union. This book analyses why these two countries joined at such a moment when steps towards a Common Foreign and Security Policy threatened their neutrality.