Strategic references to political science in Austrian parliamentary debates

ABSTRACT

This article studies the image of political science in Austria by tracing and analysing references to political scientists and their research in parliamentary debates. Since they were first established in Austrian universities in the 1960s, the social sciences and especially political science have been contested and sometimes accused of being forms of political (left-wing) ideology. This politicization has given references to political science a potential rhetorical value in parliamentary debates between oppositional and governmental factions. The parliamentary records of the Austrian Parliament (National Council) were searched for references to political science and several were found from 1966 until 2021. An analysis of these results identified three main rhetorical strategies at work in references to political science in plenary debates. The declining use of these strategies over time indicates a growing acceptance of political science and a positive view of political science expertise. Nevertheless, in recent debates right-wing populist parliamentary members in particular have continued to perpetuate and reinforce a negative image of political science and political scientists.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 H.-G.Heinrich, Einführung in die Politikwissenschaft (Vienna & Cologne, 1989), pp. 48–51. W. Hummer, Politikwissenschaft in Österreich unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Europapolitik. Institutionelle und materielle Rahmenbedingungen (Innsbruck, Vienna & Bozen, 2015), pp. 109–88; T. Kliment, ‘Politikwissenschaft in Österreich. Zur Geschichte und Institutionalisierung’, (Diploma Thesis, University of Vienna, 1992); H. Sickinger, ‘Die Entwicklung der österreichischen Politikwissenschaft’, in H. Kramer (ed.), Demokratie und Kritik – 40 Jahre Politikwissenschaft in Österreich (Frankfurt/Main et al., 2004), pp. 27–69.

2 Hummer, Politikwissenschaft in Österreich, p. 115; Sickinger, Entwicklung der österreichischen Politikwissenschaft, pp. 34–39.

3 Sickinger, Entwicklung der österreichischen Politikwissenschaft, p. 49.

4 In 1969 the University of Vienna set up a committee lead by Professor Berthold Sutter from the University of Graz, who finally wrote the policy brief in question without ever convening the committee, Hummer, Politikwissenschaft, p. 127. In the history of political science, this report has been called ‘the ironic founding document of Austrian Political Science’, T. König, & T. Ehs, ‘Wissenschaft von der Politik vor der Politikwissenschaft? ’ Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 41, (2012), pp. 211–27, p. 212.

5 K. Palonen, ‘Political science as a topic in post-war German Bundestag debates’, History of European Ideas 46, (2020), pp. 360–73.

6 Sickinger, Entwicklung der österreichischen Politikwissenschaft, pp. 28–9.

7 Christian Fleck coined the term ‘autochtonous provincialisation’ to criticise the self-imposed isolation and sterility of intellectual and academic life in the early years of the Second Republic, C. Fleck, ‘Autochthone Provinzialisierung. Universität und Wissenschaftspolitik nach dem Ende der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in Österreich’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 7, (1996), pp. 67–92.

8 Interview with Heinrich Schneider, in Kliment, Politikwissenschaft in Österreich, pp. 119–34, p. 122.

9 Lazarsfeld cited by C. Fleck, ‘Wie Neues nicht entsteht. Die Gründung des Instituts für Höhere Studien in Wien durch Ex-Österreicher und die Ford Foundation’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften, 11 (2000), pp. 129–78, p. 133.

10 Fleck, ‘Wie Neues nicht entsteht. Die Gründung des Instituts für Höhere Studien in Wien durch Ex-Österreicher und die Ford Foundation’pp. 139ff.

11 This is similar to Germany and unlike Great Britain (see Kari Palonen’s article in this special issue).

12 H. Kramer, ‘Wie Neues doch entstanden ist. Zur Gründung und zu den ersten Jahren des Instituts für Höhere Studien in Wien’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften, 13(3) (2002), pp. 110–32, p. 113.

13 E. Kreisky, & S. Hamann, ‘Der doppelte Blick’, in H. Kramer (ed.), Demokratie und Kritik – 40 Jahre Politikwissenschaft in Österreich. (Frankfurt/Main, 2004), pp. 11–23, p. 13.

14 See footnote 4.

15 Heinrich, Einführung in die Politikwissenschaft, p. 49

16 Kramer, ‘Wie Neues doch entsteht’, p. 123.

17 H. Fabris, G. Heinrich, H. Kramer, P. Kreisk, & E. Schmidt, ‘Zum Politologenbedarf in Österreich’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 2, (1973), pp. 419–52, p. 419.

18 Heinrich, Einführung in die Politikwissenschaft, p. 119.

19 The so-called AbsolventInnen-Tracking is available on the intranet pages of the University of Vienna, https://politikwissenschaft.univie.ac.at/studium/informationen-fuer-lehrende/informationen/#c120267

20 M. Saward, ‘The Representative Claim’, Contemporary Political Theory, 5 (2006), pp. 297–318. For the dimension of symbolic representation see P. Diehl, Das Symbolische, das Imaginäre und die Demokratie (Baden-Baden, 2015).

21 K. Palonen, From Oratory to Debate: Parliamentarisation of Deliberative Rhetoric in Westminster (Baden-Baden, 2016)

22 K. Bischof, & C. Ilie, ‘Democracy and Discriminatory Strategies in Parliamentary Discourse. Editorial’, Journal of Language & Politics 17, (2018), pp. 585–93.

23 M. Löffler, & K. Palonen, ‘Editorial’, Parliaments, Estates & Representation 38, (2018), pp. 1–5, p. 3.

24 For details refer to the following section on the periods of Austrian parliamentarism.

25 For an exemplary analysis of rhetorical strategies see K. Bischof, & M. Löffler, ‘Antisemitismus als politische Strategie. Plenumsdebatten im österreichischen Nationalrat nach 1945’, in C. Hainzl, & M. Grimm, (eds) Antisemitismus in Österreich nach 1945 (Berlin & Leipzig, 2022), pp. 43–61.

26 The data is taken from the website of the Austrian Parliament: https://www.parlament.gv.at/WWER/NR/MandateNr1945/ (last download 02.02.2022).

27 K.R. Luther, ‘Austria: A Democracy under Threat from the Freedom Party?’ Parliamentary Affairs 53, (2000), pp. 426–42.

28 For the difference between oppositional and governmental styles of populism see M. Löffler, ‘Populist attraction: the symbolic uses of masculinities in the Austrian general election campaign 2017’, NORMA 15, (2020), pp. 10–25.

29 Jörg Haider, the former FPÖ and then BZÖ leader, died in a car accident on 11 October 2008 only a few days after the general elections which were held on 28 September.

30 Named after Peter Pilz, a former member of the Green party, who founded his own electoral party in the wake of internal disputes.

31 For details see Löffler, ‘Populist Attraction’, p. 10–11.

32 M. Stopfner, Streitkultur im Parlament: linguistische Analyse der Zwischenrufe im österreichischen Nationalrat (Tübingen, 2013).

33 Speech by Dr. Walter Hauser, ÖVP, 26–27 November 1970, own translation.

34 Speech by Dr. Heinz Kapaun, SPÖ, 26 June 1986.

35 Speech by Dr. Friedhelm Frischenschlager, FPÖ, 10 March 1982.

36 Speech by Peter Pilz, Grüne, 5 April 1995

37 Speech by Mag. Dr. Matthias Strolz, NEOS, 11 February 2014.

38 Speech by Dr. Heinrich Neisser, ÖVP, 4 December 1975.

39 Speech by DDr. Rupert Gmoser, SPÖ, 7 October 1982’.

40 Speech by Mag. Wolfgang Gerstl, ÖVP, 20 September 2017.

41 Ironically, Kurz himself had to resign from government after public prosecutors filed corruption charges against him and his team on 9 October 2021.

42 Speech by Herbert Fux, Grüne, 29 November 1989.

43 Speech by Dr. Alfred Gusenbauer, SPÖ, 20 September 2000.

44 Speech by Jakob Auer, ÖVP, 20 October 2010.

45 Actually, the word ‘Casinertum’ does not exist, and I suppose that it was invented by Stadler to make his claim.

46 Speech by Mag. Johann Ewald Stadler, FPÖ, 12 May 1998.

47 Speech by Dr. Heinrich Neisser, ÖVP, 1 June 1983; Liberal in German is ‘freiheitlich’ and thus stands for the F in FPÖ.

48 Speech by DDr. Severin Renolder, Grüne, 26.-27 February 1992.

49 Speech by Dr. Andreas Khol, ÖVP, 13 October1995.

50 Speech by Peter Schieder, SPÖ, 17 September 1984.

51 Speech by Dr. Herbert Kohlmayer, ÖVP, 29 June 1982.

52 Speech by Josef Meisinger, FPÖ, 22 November 1994.

53 Speech by Karl Blecha, SPÖ, 6 November 1979.

54 Speech by Dr. Helene Partik-Pablé, FPÖ, 14 March 1996.

55 Speech by Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Johanna Bayer, ÖVP, 30 June 1971.

56 Diploma studies in political science were first introduced in 1980, and the first graduates left university in 1984. Before 1980, political science had been organized according to the so-called Rigorosenordnung, i.e. as part of exams in another field of studies such as economy or law, Sickinger, Die Entwicklung der österreichischen Politikwissenschaft, p. 53.

57 Speech by Dr. Irmtraut Karlsson, SPÖ, 20–21 September 1995.

58 Speech by Dr. Johann Stippel, SPÖ, 20–21 September 1995.

59 Speech by Dr. Michael Krüger, FPÖ, 28 June 1996. Helmut Kramer was Professor of International Politics at the University of Vienna from 1981 to 2006.

60 Speech by Dieter Brosz, GRÜNE, 11 May 2001.

61 See Kari Palonen’s argument on Germany in the 1970s in his contribution to this special issue.

62 R. Wodak, ‘Vom Rand in die Mitte – “Schamlose Normalisierung,”’ Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 59, (2018), pp. 323–35; see also Löffler, ‘Populist Attraction.’

63 Speech by Mag. Michaels Steinacker, ÖVP, 26 September 2019.

64 Speech by Mag. Gerald Loacker, NEOS, 7 July 2021. Loacker studied law at the University of Vienna.

65 Written question by Dr. Walter Rosenkranz et al. to the Federal Minister of Science, Research, and Economy, 4524/J, 14 April 2015, XXV LP.

66 Speech by MMMag. Dr. Axel Kassegger (FPÖ), 17 November 2020. The political scientist in question had come into the frame in the course of criminal investigations relating to an Islamist terrorist attack in Vienna 2020. However, the investigations against him and others finally turned out to be a miscarriage of justice.

67 Speech by Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Deimek, FPÖ, 19 November 2019.

68 Speech by Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Deimek, FPÖ, 21 April 2021. The Young ÖVP is the youth organization of the New ÖVP which, after pushing FPÖ out of government, has also been on the FPÖ’s list of enemies.

69 Especially, but not solely, members of the FPÖ identify some fields of research with hostile (left-wing) ideology. Examples are: studies on climate change, gender-specific and intimate partner violence, right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Muslim racism.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marion Löffler

Marion Löffler, Dr. Mag. PD, is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Vienna. She is Aigner-Rollett Visiting Professor at the department of public law at the University of Graz, and was visiting professor for gender and politics at the department of political science at the University of Vienna, and assistant Visiting Professor at the Austrian Studies Center at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her research focus is on contemporary political theories, democracy and parliamentarism, political masculinities and right-wing populism. Recent publication: ‘What parliamentary rhetoric tells us about changing democratic culture: the case of antisemitism in Austrian parliamentary debate as a threat to democracy’, co-authored with Karin Bischof, Redescription, forthcoming.