The Populist Politics of Austriarnby Donald I. WarrenrnIn this small nation’s elegant capital in November 1992,rnnewspaper headlines bannering the Clinton presidentialrnvietory temporarily displaced the local story of the moment: arndecisive political coup by Jorg Haider, leader of the FreedomrnParty of Austria (FPO). Although it is quite clear that Austria’srnstatus quo, socialist-conservative, “Red-Black” alliance hasrnfunctioned effectively as a patronage machine, one longtimernpolitical observer notes that “it appears ineffectual, even paralyzed,rnwhen faced with larger political issues, especially immigration.”rnAmid a general economic downturn throughoutrnEurope, this latter issue was tackled head-on by Jorg Haider’srnFreedom Party in late October 1992, when it proposed a nationalrnreferendum: a 12-point petition on the key issues of asylum,rnimmigration, and multicultural education. This startlingrncoup reverberated within the nation’s parliament over the nextrnseveral months and subsequently shaped a spring constitutionalrndebate, forcing a vote to address these critical nationalrnconcerns.rnWith Germany, its neighbor to the north, badly shaken byrnstreet violence and arson since the beginning of the 1990’s,rnAustria’s Nationalrat had for many months ignored the need tornaddress the troubling fact that this once powerful but nowrngreatly diminished middle European nation would be drawnrninto the maelstrom of Continental violence, either incipient orrnovert. Proclaiming that the national mood was total gekipptrn(completely overturned), the popular weekly news magazinernProfit reported last September that two-thirds of a cross-sectionrnof Austria’s populace felt that Rostock-stylc neo-Nazi flamesrnDonald I. Warren is a political sociologist and author ofrnThe Radical Center (J 976).rncould, in fact, leap across the border.rnOn November 2,1992—the very eve of the U.S. election—rnamid headlines of attacks on foreigners and a leadership crisisrnin Cermanv, Austria’s Freedom Party chief formally promulgatedrnhis manifesto. Three days later, front-page photosrnshowed an apparently significant conversation between Haiderrnand Austrian President Thomas Klestil (a member of the rulingrnconservative party) at the Hofburg (the occasion being arn60th birthday celebration for Kurt Waldheim’s recently electedrnreplacement). Although it has been vigorously denied,rnspeculation was rife that Klestil was trying to stave off Haider’srnthen threatened 12-point petition drive.rnHaider’s challenge to the ruling coalition was a comprehensivernproposal proffered as salve for Austrian qualms aboutrnthe Auslander Problem. The referendum once again raised thernquestion of whether it would be in the nation’s best interest tornjoin the European Community. Specifically, what becamernknown as the Osterreich zuerst (“Austria First”) manifesto declaredrnthat Austria was “not an immigrant society” and calledrnfor illegal immigrants to be returned to their native countriesrnunless their claims for asylum could be established as extendingrnbeyond economic hardship. This declaration was coupledrnwith a demand for tighter restrictions on welfare benefits forrnthose who had recently entered the country. Thus, before Germanyrnor France, Austria tackled the issue of restricting asylum,rnlargely because of the pressure exerted by its third largest politicalrnparty.rnThe political centerpiece of the FPO manifesto put forth lastrnNovember urged a constitutional declaration that Austria wasrnno longer open to large-scale foreign immigration. By obtainingrna required minimum of 100,000 signatures, the 12-pointrn26/CHRONICLESrnrnrn