1.
States of Austria
–
Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder. Since Land is also the German word for country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity, the Constitution of Austria uses both terms. In English, the land is commonly rendered as state or province. The other five states, in contrast, are located in the Alps and their terrain is also relatively unfavourable to heavy industry and long-distance trade. Accordingly, the population of what now is the Republic of Austria has been concentrated in the four states since prehistoric times. Austrias most densely populated state is the city-state of Vienna, the heart of what is Austrias only metropolitan area, Lower Austria ranks fourth with regard to population density even though containing Viennas suburbs, this is due to large areas of land being predominantly agricultural. The wealthy alpine state of Vorarlberg is something of a due to its small size, isolated location. The following ranked list of Austrian states cites official Statistik Austria population on 1 January 2015, areas are given in square kilometres, population density is expressed in inhabitants per square kilometre. For the purpose of the above list, a city is a community defined to be a city by Austrian law, many of Austrias cities have population figures on the order of ten thousand inhabitants, some are even smaller. Elections are held five years. The Landeshauptmann is always elected by the Landtag, meaning that it may be necessary to form a coalition in order to secure the election of a particular candidate. Vienna, the capital of Austria, plays a role as city and Bundesland, meaning that the mayor serves as governor. Austrian federalism is largely theoretical as the states are granted few legislative powers, there is also no judiciary of the Länder, since the federal constitution defines the judiciary as an exclusively federal matter. This centralisation follows a model where central power during the time of the empire was largely concentrated in Vienna. However, the governor is in charge of the administration of much of federal administrative law within the respective state. Furthermore, state competences include zoning laws, planning issues and public procurement on the regional level, Austrian Länder are endowed formally and practically with a much smaller degree of autonomy than American or German states. Even so, Austrians tend to identify passionately with their respective Land and it is not unheard of for Austrians to consider themselves, for instance, Tyrolean first, Austrian second. Salzburg is coterminous with the former Austro-Hungarian Duchy of Salzburg, also, the state of Vorarlberg had been a semi-autonomous part of the County of Tyrol since 1861
2.
Flag of Austria
–
The flag of Austria has three equal horizontal bands of red, white, and red. The Austrian triband is based on the coat of arms of the Babenberg dynasty and it may have seen use in flags from about the 15th century, alongside the black-and-yellow colors of the House of Habsburg and other insignia of the Holy Roman Empire. It was adopted as an ensign in the 18th century. The flag traces back to the coat of arms of the medieval Babenberg dynasty, however, the Babenberg margrave Leopold III of Austria had already been depicted with a triband shield in 1105. When the last Otakar Duke Ottokar IV of Styria died in 1192, the triband is first documented in a seal on a deed issued on 30 November 1230, confirming the privileges of Lilienfeld Abbey. The medieval chronicler Jans der Enikel reports that the duke appeared in a ceremonial dress at his 1232 accolade in the Vienna Schottenstift. The Babenberg family colors developed to the coat of arms of their Austrian possessions, after the dynasty had become extinct with Fredericks death at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River, they were adopted by his Přemyslid successor King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Upon the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld the colours were assumed by the victorious House of Habsburg, according to legend, the flag was invented by Duke Leopold V of Austria as a consequence of his fighting during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood, when he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. So taken was he by this singular sight that he adopted the colors, the incident was documented as early as 1260, though it is highly unlikely. In fact, the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire during the Crusades was a cross on a red field quite similar to the later Austrian arms. This ensign was used by the Austrian capital Vienna from the late 13th century onwards, since the days of Rudolph of Habsburg and the 1283 Treaty of Rheinfelden, the combination of red-white-red was widely considered to be the Austrian colours used by the ruling Habsburg dynasty. However, the flag of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, like the later Austrian Empire. These were the colours of the Imperial House of Habsburg. Beginning in the reign of Emperor Joseph II, the Austrian, later Austro-Hungarian Navy used a Naval Ensign based on the red-white-red colours, and augmented with a shield of similar colours. Both of these became obsolete with Austria-Hungarys dissolution in 1918. The Austrian flag has been the motif of many collector coins. One of the most recent examples is the 20 euro Post War Period coin, the obverse of this coin shows the Austrian coat of arms flanked by the Austrian flag and the European Union flag
3.
Coat of arms of Austria
–
The current coat of arms of Austria has been in use, in various forms, by the Republic of Austria since 1919. Between 1934 and the German annexation in 1938 Austria used a different coat of arms, the establishment of the Second Republic in 1945 saw the return of the original arms, with broken chains added to symbolise Austrias liberation. Both versions are used in parallel, surveys have however confirmed, that understanding of the actual symbolism of the arms is widespread. On the one hand the arms serve as a new republican symbol, the current version of the arms is often regarded as being reminiscent of the double-headed eagle of the Habsburg monarchy. According to this interpretation, the single headed eagle alludes, in the sense of the removal of the hand, Hungarian head. The Austrian federal states have however retained pre-republican heraldic traditions, on 31 October 1918, the council of state agreed upon the colours of the republic as well as the new coat of arms composed personally by chancellor Karl Renner. The coat of arms was composed quickly due to the need for having a seal at the talks after World War I. The coat of arms consisted of a tower representing the bourgeoisie. The colours black, red and gold was chosen because they were the national colours of Germany. The new coat of arms was however withdrawn as it was met with criticism from, for example, Adolf Loos and heraldists. A decision by the council of ministers on 8 May 1919 replaced the arms with the eagle
4.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
5.
Politics of Austria
–
Governments, both local and federal, exercise executive power. Federal legislative power is vested both in the government and in the two chambers of parliament, the National Council and the Federal Council, since 1949 the conservative Austrian Peoples Party and the center-left Social Democratic Party of Austria have largely dominated the party-political landscape of Austria. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, the ethnically and culturally heterogeneous nation state of Austria is one of the many remnant states of Austria-Hungary, a vast multinational empire that ceased to exist in 1918. The Austrian Republic was preceded by a monarchy, whose legislative body was elected by, as The New York Times put it. Austrias first attempt at republican governance, after the fall of the monarchy in 1918, was hampered by the crippling economic costs of war reparations required by the victorious Allies. Austrias First Republic made some pioneering reforms in the 1920s, particularly in Vienna, however, the Republic gradually developed into an Austrofascist dictatorship between 1933-1934 under Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, whom Nazi party agents assassinated in 1934. The First Republic ended with invasion and annexation by Germany in 1938, following the defeat of Germany in 1945 Austria resumed its republican government. The beginning of the 21st century marked, for Austria, a half-century of a government under a constitutional federal republican system. It is governed according to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. The constitutional framework of the politics of Austria and the marrow of the practical implementation are widely agreed to be robust. Austrias constitution characterizes the republic as a federation consisting of nine autonomous federal states, both the federation and all its states have written constitutions defining them to be republican entities governed according to the principles of representative democracy. Austrias head of state is the Federal President, elected by popular vote for a term of six years, former president Heinz Fischer was elected for a second term on 25 April 2010. He will be replaced by President-elect Alexander Van der Bellen, who was elected on 4 December 2016, the office of the Federal President is largely ceremonial, although the constitution allows the president to dismiss the cabinet or to dissolve the National Council and call new elections. The Federal Chancellor is appointed by the Federal President, although he is head of government, he has no power to direct other members of the government. Following the Austrian National Council election of 2008 Social Democratic Party leader Werner Faymann was sworn in as Chancellor by President Heinz Fischer on 2 December 2008. The federal cabinet consists of the Federal Chancellor appointed by the president, the federal cabinet is answerable to the National Council and can be forced to resign by a motion of no confidence. The current cabinet, made up by the Social Democratic Party, the Parliament of Austria consists of two chambers. The National Council has 183 members, elected for a term by proportional representation
6.
Authoritarianism
–
Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by strong central power and limited political freedoms. Individual freedoms are subordinate to the state and there is no constitutional accountability under an authoritarian regime, modern dictatorships use an authoritarian concept to form a government. Linz distinguished new forms of authoritarianism from personalistic dictatorships and totalitarian states, several subtypes of authoritarian regimes have been identified by Linz and others. Bureaucratic-military authoritarian regimes are those governed by a coalition of military officers, mark J. Linz also has identified three other subtypes of authoritarian regime, corporatist or organic-statistic, racial and ethnic democracy and post-totalitarian. Examples include the Soviet Eastern bloc states in the mid-1980s, authoritarian regimes are also sometimes subcategorized by whether they are personalistic or populist. Personalistic authoritarian regimes are characterized by arbitrary rule and authority exercised mainly through patronage networks and coercion rather than through institutitions, personalistic authoritarian regimes have been seen in post-colonial Africa. By contrast, populist authoritarian regimes are mobilizational regimes in which a strong, charismatic, examples include Argentina under Perón, Egypt under Nasser, and Venezuela under Chávez and Maduro. Authoritarianism is characterized by highly concentrated and centralized power maintained by political repression and it uses political parties and mass organizations to mobilize people around the goals of the regime. Adam Przeworski has theorized that authoritarian equilibrium rests mainly on lies, fear, authoritarian political systems may be weakened through inadequate performance to demands of the people. Because the legitimacy of the state is dependent on performance, authoritarian states that fail to adapt may collapse, authoritarianism is marked by indefinite political tenure of the ruler or ruling party or other authority. The transition from a system to a more democratic form of government is referred to as democratization. John Duckitt suggests a link between authoritarianism and collectivism, asserting that both stand in opposition to individualism, Duckitt writes that both authoritarianism and collectivism submerge individual rights and goals to group goals, expectations and conformities. Totalitarianism is a version of authoritarianism. Authoritarianism primarily differs from totalitarianism in that social and economic institutions exist that are not under governmental control, building on the work of Yale political scientist Juan Linz, Paul C. Concomitant role conceptions differentiate totalitarians from authoritarians, authoritarians view themselves as individual beings largely content to control, and often maintain, the status quo. The tyrant is less a person than a function to guide. Consequently, the utilisation of power for personal aggrandizement is more evident among authoritarians than totalitarians, lacking the binding appeal of ideology, authoritarians support their rule by a mixture of instilling fear and granting rewards to loyal collaborators, engendering a kleptocracy. Compared to totalitarianism, the state still maintains a certain distinction between state and society
7.
One-party state
–
All other parties are either outlawed or allowed to take only a limited and controlled participation in elections. One-party states explain themselves through various methods, most often, proponents of a one-party state argue that the existence of separate parties runs counter to national unity. Others argue that the one party is the vanguard of the people, the Soviet government argued that multiple parties represented the class struggle, which was absent in Soviet society, and so the Soviet Union only had one party, the Communist Party. Some one-party states only outlaw opposition parties, while allowing allied parties to exist as part of a permanent coalition such as a popular front. However, these parties are largely or completely subservient to the ruling party, examples of this are the Peoples Republic of China under the United Front, or the National Front in former East Germany. Others may allow non-party members to run for seats, as was the case with Taiwans Tangwai movement in the 1970s and 1980s. Within their own countries, dominant parties ruling over one-party states are referred to simply as the Party. One-party systems often arise from decolonization because one party has had a dominant role in liberation or in independence struggles. One-party states are often, but not always, considered to be authoritarian or totalitarian, however, not all authoritarian or totalitarian states operate based on one-party rule. Some, especially absolute monarchies and certain military dictatorships, have all political parties illegal. The term communist state is used in the West to apply to states in which the ruling party subscribes to a form of Marxism–Leninism. While the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the constitution, no party is permitted to campaign or run candidates for election, the party was conceived by the original Black American settlers and their descendants who referred to themselves as Americo-Liberians. Initially, its ideology was influenced by that of the Whig Party in the United States. Over time it developed into a powerful Masonic Order that ruled every aspect of Liberian society for well over a century until it was overthrown in 1980, while the True Whig Party still exists today, its influence has substantially declined
.svg)
_1934-1938.svg)
.svg)
Austria portal