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The ‘Habsburg Dilemma’ Today: Competing Discourses of National Identity in Contemporary Austria

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 7; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14608940500334382

1469-9907

Christian Karner,

Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics

Abstract This article analyses discourses of Austrian national identity. It discusses the reproduction (and contestation) of national identities on the levels of everyday language, political debate and policy. Three discursive formations of the nation—and their histories—are discussed: a nowadays marginal and de-legitimated discourse of pan-Germanic ethnicism; the hegemonic paradigm of 'Austrian-ness', which itself comprises a range of ideological positions and constitutes the over-arching framework to most (relevant) debates; and counter-hegemonic discourses including European- and 'post-national' identity formations. The article also discusses individuals' ongoing negotiation of, and possible resistance to, discourses of national belonging, and concludes by relating its findings to the contemporary salience of national identities as a reaction to the (perceived) consequences of economic globalisation. Keywords: AustriaDiscourse AnalysisIdentity NegotiationsGlobalisation I would like to express my gratitude to the Leverhulme Trust for a Special Research Fellowship that made the research underlying this article possible. I would also like to thank Alan Aldridge and the anonymous referees of an earlier version of this article for their helpful and thought-provoking comments. Notes 1. For an analysis of the FPÖ's political rhetoric (and its 'calculated ambivalence'), see Reisigl (2002 Reisigl, M. 2002. "Dem Volk aufs Maul schauen, nach dem Mund reden und Angst und Bange machen". In Rechtspopulismus: Österreichische Krankheit oder Europäische Normalität, Edited by: Eismann, W. 170–174. Wien: Czernin Verlag. [Google Scholar]). 2. Austria's controversial government collapsed in the late summer of 2002 following the resignation of a number of high-ranking FPÖ ministers including the now former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Riess-Passer. These resignations were the result of a power struggle within the FPÖ, to which Haider had contributed. The subsequent general elections in November 2002 resulted in a landslide victory for the ÖVP, very significant losses for the FPÖ, and an eventual renewal of their of previous coalition government. Most recent developments in the spring of 2005 have included an intra-FPÖ schism leading to a novel political configuration: the Bündnis Zukunft Österreich (BZÖ), currently headed by Haider. 3. As such, this article may be seen to complement (both empirically and conceptually) recent work in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Vienna, which has analysed Austrian national identities from a theoretical perspective known as the 'discourse historical approach' (a form of CDA) (see, e.g., De Cillia et al., 1999 De Cillia, R., Reisigl, M. and Wodak, R. 1999. The discursive construction of national identities. Discourse and Society, 10(2): 149–173. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 4. For my present purposes, I am not concerned with the demographic/quantitative spread of the competing discourses of Austrian identity analysed nor with their relative prominence in the country's different—and ideologically very differently positioned—newspapers. Instead, I propose a qualitative discussion of three distinguishable, historically grounded, socially constructed, more or less widely shared, yet contested, definitions of the national 'self'. For a relevant discussion of the media as one of the main realms in which the national community is 'imagined', see Yadgar (2002 Yadgar, Y. 2002. From the particularistic to the universalistic: National narratives in Israel's mainstream press, 1967–1997. Nations and Nationalism, 8(1): 58–72. [Google Scholar]). 5. See Spillman (1997 Spillman, L. 1997. Nation and commemoration, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]) for a discussion of 'international recognition' and 'internal integration' as core components in most national imaginings. 6. This emphasis on 'the statement' and its 'enunciation' echoes Michel Foucault's (1989 [1969] Foucault, M. 1989 [1969]. The archaeology of knowledge, London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) preoccupation with the 'rules of formation' governing 'discursive formation' in one of the founding texts of discourse analysis. My use of a broad range of 'sources', on the other hand, is inadvertently justified by Terry Eagleton's (1996 Eagleton, T. 1996. Literary theory, Oxford: Blackwell. [Google Scholar], p. 183) observation that all 'signifying practices … from film and television to fiction and the languages of natural science, produce effects, shape forms of consciousness and unconsciousness … related to … our existing system of power'. 7. For a discussion of power/ideology underlying everyday practices (or 'mediated discourse analysis'), see Scollon (2003 Scollon, S. 2003. "Political and somatic alignment: Habitus, ideology and social practice". In Critical discourse analysis: Theory and interdisciplinarity, Edited by: Weiss, G. and Wodak, R. 167–196. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [Google Scholar]). 8. See Hanisch (1994 Hanisch, E. 1994. Der Lange Schatten des Staates: Österreichische Gesellschaftsgeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, Wien: Ueberreuter. [Google Scholar], pp. 126–127). The prominence of the pan-Germanic discourse among German-speakers in the Habsburg monarchy can be traced to 1848 (and beyond) and the enthusiastic support among the liberal bourgeoisie for 'the efforts of the Frankfurt Parliament to unify Germany into a nation-state' (Bukey, 2000 Bukey, E. 2000. Hitler's Austria, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. [Google Scholar], p. 6). Thaler (2001 Thaler, P. 2001. The ambivalence of identity: The Austrian experience of nation-building in a modern society, West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 68) has argued that Austria's defeat at the hands of Bismarck's Prussia in 1866 and her subsequent expulsion from German political affairs 'led to the intensification of [many Austro-Germans'] until then largely self-evident but not necessarily urgent sense of German identity'. The arguably most radical version of the deutschnational discourse in the late nineteenth century was articulated by Georg Ritter von Schönerer who synthesised pan-Germanism and an opposition to the Habsburg monarchy (and the Catholic clergy) with rabid antisemitism (see, e.g., Schiedel & Neugebauer, 2002 Schiedel, H. and Neugebauer, W. 2002. "Jörg Haider, die FPÖ und der Antisemitismus". In 'Dreck am Stecken': Politik der Ausgrenzung, Edited by: Pelinka, A. and Wodak, R. 11–31. Wien: Czernin. [Google Scholar]). 9. There is, of course, a vast literature on the First Austrian Republic. For useful and comprehensive 'summaries', see, e.g., Kleindel (1984 Kleindel, W. 1984. Die Chronik Österreichs, Dortmund: Chronik Verlag. [Google Scholar]) or Hanisch (1994 Hanisch, E. 1994. Der Lange Schatten des Staates: Österreichische Gesellschaftsgeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, Wien: Ueberreuter. [Google Scholar], pp. 263–333). 10. See Bukey (2000) for a discussion of various realms of, for example, parts of the (lower) Catholic clergy and the rural population, political 'underground' activity, regional aloofness to Nazism particularly in Tyrol, and motivations, for example, Viennese anti-Prussian sentiments, a persisting 'economic gap' between the Ostmark and the Altreich, food and coal shortages, war casualties and later allied aerial bombardment) underlying anti-German/Austrian patriotic sentiments between 1938 and 1945. 11. Thus, for example, recent convictions for nationalsozialistische Wiederbetätigung (loosely translated as 'revival and articulation of Nazi ideology') were passed against five young men in Innsbruck on 19 January 2004 (http://tirol.ORF.at, 20 January 2004). 12. The Dokumentationsarchiv des Österreichischen Widerstandes (DÖW, or 'documentary archive of Austrian resistance') reported an increase in the number of such publications, demonstrations and contacts between German and Austrian extremists in 2002 (www.orf.at, 13 June 2003). 13. Organised by the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung, the exhibition toured 13 (German and Austrian) cities between 2001 and 2004, attracting some 400,000 visitors (www.orf.at, 29 January 2004). 14. For earlier, pre-1986 instances of self-critical engagement with Austria's Second World War history, see Adunka (2002 Adunka, E. 2002. "Antisemitismus in der Zweiten Republik. Ein Überblick anhand einiger ausgewählter Beispiele". In Antisemitismus in Österreich nach 1945, Edited by: Wassermann, H.P. 12–65. Innsbruck: Studienverlag. [Google Scholar], pp. 19, 32–33). 15. It has been argued that the sanctions were imposed in part because of a shared commitment to EU norms, but also for reasons of domestic (particularly French and Belgian) political expediency (see Merlingen, Mudde & Sedelmeier, 2001 Merlingen, M., Mudde, C. and Sedelmeier, U. 2001. The Right and the righteous? European norms, domestic politics and the sanctions against Austria. Journal of Common Market Studies, 39(1): 59–77. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 16. Recent developments show a reversal of political fortunes: while the 2002 elections resulted in a landslide victory for the ÖVP (42.27 per cent) and a meagre 10.16 per cent for the FPÖ (compared to 27.2 per cent in 1999), more recent opinion polls suggest that the majority of Austrians would now favour a coalition between the SPÖ and the Greens (e.g., http://derStandard, 23 November 2003). 17. See Menasse (2000 Menasse, R. 2000. Erklär mir Österreich, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp. [Google Scholar]). Amesberger and Halbmayr (2002 Amesberger, H. and Halbmayr, B. 2002. "Frauen und Rechtsextreme Parteien". In Rechtspopulismus: Österreichische Krankheit oder Europäische Normalität, Edited by: Eismann, W. 223–242. Wien: Czernin Verlag. [Google Scholar], p. 237) provide a summary of the FPÖ's demographically complex electoral support base in 1999, including its noticeable appeal to (particularly male) voters under the age of 30, the unemployed and female pensioners. 18. See Kleindel (1984 Kleindel, W. 1984. Die Chronik Österreichs, Dortmund: Chronik Verlag. [Google Scholar]) or Hanisch (1994 Hanisch, E. 1994. Der Lange Schatten des Staates: Österreichische Gesellschaftsgeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, Wien: Ueberreuter. [Google Scholar], p. 272) for summaries of the armed territorial struggles in Carinthia in the aftermath of the First World War. 19. Haider accused Adamovich of concealing the contents of a conversation with the Slovenian Prime Minister Milan Kučan, which Adamovich strongly denied (Die Presse, 20 December 2001). 20. Two years later, the Austrian Greens criticised the government for further delays in implementing this (www.orf.at, 15 December 2003). 21. A derogatory Austrian term for Germans. 22. Bukey (2000 Bukey, E. 2000. Hitler's Austria, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. [Google Scholar], p. 227) comments: '128,000 Jews banished from their home and country; 32,000 outcasts and dissenters driven to death in Gestapo jails or concentration camps; 65,459 remaining Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust, 2,700 patriots executed for resistance.' 23. For a detailed discussion of the Besatzungszeit, see Portisch and Riff (1986 Portisch, H. and Riff, S. 1986. Der lange Weg zur Freiheit, Wien: Kremayr & Scheriau. [Google Scholar]). 24. Hanisch (1994 Hanisch, E. 1994. Der Lange Schatten des Staates: Österreichische Gesellschaftsgeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, Wien: Ueberreuter. [Google Scholar], p. 480), to name but one example, documents a pronounced silence on Nazism particularly during the 1950s ('das Schweigen der 1950er Jahre über den Nationalsozialismus'). 25. E.g., Pelinka & Weinzierl, 1987 Pelinka , A. & Weinzierl , E. ( Eds .), ( 1987 ). Das Grosse Tabu . Wien : Österreichische Staatsdruckerei , edition S . [Google Scholar]; Rauscher, 2002 Rauscher, H. 2002. "Eine geschlossene Verdrängungskette". In Haider: Österreich und die rechte Versuchung, Edited by: Scharsach, H.-H. 22–45. Reinbek: Rohwolt. [Google Scholar]. According to a recent comparative study, the prosecution of Nazi war criminals was, between 1945 and 1955, more rigorous in Austria than in Germany; however, this trend was markedly reversed after 1955 (http://derStandard.at, 2 December 2003). 26. For a discussion of football as an arena conducive to national imaginings, of 'supporters across the globe collectively construct[ing] national identities, to which they attach emotions', see Stroeken (2002 Stroeken, K. 2002. Why the world loves watching football. Anthropology Today, 18(3): 9–13. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar], p. 9). 27. www.orf.at (website of the Austrian Broadcasting Network), 26 October 2001. 28. www.orf.at, 17 February 2002. According to a recent report, during the first year of the Integrationsvertrag, only 951 people completed the language course, whereas more than 75,000 successfully claimed exemption (www.orf.at, 26 January 2004). 29. See Stiegnitz (2000 Stiegnitz, P. 2000. Heimat zum Nulltarif, Wien: edition va bene. [Google Scholar], p. 14). This argument seems to ignore some profound ethical and logical dilemmas, not least how—and by whom—integration is to be assessed. 30. www.orf.at, 17 December 2003. Public debates in France concerning assimilationism, secularism and cultural pluralism were already raging months before Chirac's controversial announcement (see, e.g., Le Nouvel Observateur, 15 May 2003). 31. Naturalisation is currently possible after ten years of legal residence in the country. The year 2003 saw 'record numbers', with 18,420 'new' Austrian citizens in Vienna alone (http://wien.ORF.at, 28 January 2004). 32. http://derStandard.at, 21 November 2003. 33. http://derStandard.at, 29 October 2003. 34. http://dieStandard.at [sic], 29 October 2003. 35. With an estimated 40 to 45 per cent of Austrians reading the Kronen Zeitung (Thaler, 2001 Thaler, P. 2001. The ambivalence of identity: The Austrian experience of nation-building in a modern society, West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 39), it has been termed 'Reichweitenweltmeister', or 'world champion in circulation' (Mappes-Niedek, 2002 Mappes-Niedik, N. 2002. Österreich für Deutsche, Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag. [Google Scholar], p. 167). 36. See Anderson (1983 Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined communities, London: Verso. [Google Scholar]). As has been widely acknowledged, 'imagined' does certainly not mean 'imaginary', but refers to the social construction of all national identities in (or out of) particular historical, political, economic and technological contexts. 37. A useful (and firsthand) sense of the four main parties' various notions of national inclusion/exclusion and their sometimes radically different stances on Austria's past, present, and future can be gleaned from their respective websites (www.fpoe.at, www.gruene.at, www.oevp.at, www.spoe.at). 38. Like all ideal types, this typology is intended for analytical purposes only and involves a fully acknowledged abstraction from empirical complexities. Thus, for example, several SPÖ and 'Green' politicians have articulated the counter-hegemonic discourses reviewed in this section and/or participated in some of the protests mentioned. The 'introduction' of a separate section is largely intended to do justice to the self-perception of many of the people and initiatives summarised as part of a critical arena independent of party politics. 39. Sully (1990 Sully, M. 1990. A contemporary history of Austria, London: Routledge. [Google Scholar], p. 114) has interpreted a speech given by Franz Vranitzky (Austrian Chancellor at the time) in 1988 as an important watershed insofar as it officially acknowledged Austria's 'dual role'—as both perpetrator and victim—in the Second World War. 40. http://derStandard.at, 19 December 2003. 41. http://derStandard.at, 9 October 2003; www.fraubock.at. 42. One public version of central European identity was recently articulated in a (pre-EU-enlargement) season of performances and exhibitions of Hungarian, Czech, Slovak and Slovenian art in Vienna (www.orf.at, 18 November 2003). 43. See, e.g., Laclau and Mouffe (1985 Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. 1985. Hegemony and socialist strategy, London: Verso. [Google Scholar]). Also see Hall's (1996 Hall, S. 1996. "Who needs identity?". In Questions of cultural identity, Edited by: Hall, S. and du Gay, P. 5–17. London: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) seminal definition of identification as 'a process never completed', identities as 'never unified' and as dealing with 'routes' of 'becoming' rather than with 'roots' or 'being'. Identities, Hall argues, are merely temporary points of suture, at which the subject is 'hailed into place' or articulated by a particular discursive practice. 44. While many such manoeuvres (the present examples included) may be explicable by broadly defined notions of self-interest, the latter cannot account for every individual's ideological articulations all the time. Instead, discourse analysis should allow for psychologically complex social actors and their context-specific uses of different frameworks of meaning not always and inevitably for reasons of economic rationality and political expediency. 45. 'dass dieses Europa der Bürokraten und Fehlentwicklungen … zu einem Europa der Bürger und der Demokratie umgewandelt wird' (quoted in Pelinka & Wodak, 2002 Pelinka , A. & Wodak , R. ( Eds .), ( 2002 ). 'Dreck am Stecken': Politik der Ausgrenzung . Wien : Czernin . [Google Scholar], p. 229). 46. www.orf.at, 27 January 2003. 47. 'Für mich ist er Österreicher. Des heisst, dass sein Herz zu am Großteil österreischisch is. Da sollt's net um Pass, Staatsbürgerschaft oder Wohnort gehen, er mag des Land wahnsinnig gern, und das reicht. Ich weiss schon, dass er sich auch als Palestinänser sieht, aber i seh da keinen Widerspruch' (26 December 2002). 48. www.diepresse.at, 29 October 2003. 49. www.orf.at, 23 January 2004. 50. www.diepresse.at, 8 October 2003. 51. http://derStandard.at, 6 January 2004. 52. www.market.co.at, 3 December 2003. 53. http://derStandard.at, 4 November 2003. 54. www.krone.at, 27 November 2003.