"From populist protest to incumbency: The strategic challenges facing Jörg Haider's Freedom Party of Austria (FPO)"

Luther, Kurt Richard. (2001) "From populist protest to incumbency: The strategic challenges facing Jörg Haider's Freedom Party of Austria (FPO)" . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2001 (7th), May 31-June 2, 2001, pages 22, Madison, Wisconsin.

Abstract

[This paper] will restrict itself above all to a consideration of the Freedom Party's role in Austria's electoral market, as well to the party's internal organization and elite recruitment. We will in respect of both aspects first seek to establish how and with which strategic orientation the party operated in the period(s) prior to its entry into government. Thereafter, we will identify the most important challenges and strategic dilemmas that the FPÖ will have to address as a consequence of its entry into Austria's federal government. Since it is only just over a year since this radical change in the party's political circumstances, it is as yet too early to be sure about the extent to which the structures and behaviors that the party employed prior to February 2000 remain appropriate for the period of governmental responsibility. There has also been only a relatively short period of time to observe any possible changes in the party's electoral and organizational profile. Accordingly, this paper's assessment of the strategic and organizational challenges facing the FPÖ is thus necessarily provisional.