Austria

Starting in the 1980s, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) transformed itself from a far-right, market-liberal party into a populist radical right party increasingly posing a threat to the mainstream. The response by the Christian conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Social Democrats (SPÖ) was shaped, however, also by societal changes and voter defections to the FPÖ. Yet, despite the possibility of forming rightwing coalitions, the prevailing pattern were grand coalitions and a treatment of the FPÖ as political pariah — albeit one that was fundamentally unacceptable for the SPÖ but only conditionally unacceptable for the ÖVP. Nonetheless, both parties began accommodating, and thereby legitimizing, FPÖ policies. When in the 1990s the FPÖ turned to an office-seeking approach and likewise adopted conservative policies, the ÖVP saw in a coalition with the FPÖ an opportunity to break the SPÖ’s hold on the chancellorship. The ÖVP increasingly embraced FPÖ positions on identity and immigration and cooperated with the FPÖ again 2017-2019. This had also been the result of the SPÖ’s internal split over whether to cooperate with the FPÖ. However, as before, also in 2019 the FPÖ brought itself down by appearing, despite efforts to the contrary, as a scandal-ridden party poorly prepared for office.