Profile


Austria became an important force in Central Europe with the foundation of the Habsburg Empire, in the thirteenth century by the Habsburg family, a politically dynamic family of Swiss origin. The Habsburg Empire lasted until the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War, when the modern republic of Austria emerged. Austria was incorporated into the Third Reich in 1938. It was not until 26th October 1955 that the remaining allied troops departed and it, with a new constitution in hand, assumed its modern form.

As with it's neighbor West Germany, after World War Two Austria was remarkably successful in rebuilding its economy. Political compromise between rival parties allowed a policy of social cohesion to be pursued. The Austrian government played a highly interventionist role in it's county's economic development, by putting about a quarter of the county's manufacturing sector under state control. Growth ratios were so successful that they were almost unmatched in the rest of Europe.

The road has not been smooth with periods of stagnation followed by further periods of recover and growth. However today Austrians enjoys a high across the board standard of living well within the upper half of European performers.

One small and understandable problem however is that because of its easterly most position in the traditional constellation of Europe, up against the old 'iron curtain', and now with the taking away of that disturbance, Austria has found itself of interest to people from the east wishing to immigrate to Western Europe. While keen to enhance links with Eastern Europe, Austria is concerned over the possibility of large-scale immigration. This is one factor in the recent rise in the popularity of the right-wing Freedom Party.