Paradoxical Republic

Oliver Rathkolb is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. He was Schumpeter Fellow at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University and Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago and is member of the Academic Committee for the House of European History in Brussels.

“A tour de force combining historical insight, political analysis, personal opinion, skillful prose, and visual metaphor to map a pathway through Austria’s recent past.” The Journal of Modern History“The author's analysis is balanced and frequently insightful, and his concluding chapter looking at future trends is particularly interesting.” Choice“A fine and powerful book with many new insights…fills a major gap in the literature and deserves to be read widely.” European History Quarterly

• PrefaceChapter 1. Austrian Identity: Between National Pride, Solipsism and European PatriotismChapter 2. Peculiarities of Austrian DemocracyChapter 3. 'Austria Can Beat Everything, If It Only Wants To': Myth and Reality of Austrian Economic Policy since 1945Chapter 4. Ten Chancellors, and Not One a WomanChapter 5. The Newspaper Tycoons of the Second RepublicChapter 6. Neutrality and the State Treaty in a New EuropeChapter 7. 'Alles Walzer...': The Politics of Art and Culture as the Early Second Republic's Elixir of LifeChapter 8. The Austrian Model of the Welfare State and Intergenerational and Intergender Contracts since 1945Chapter 9. The Shadow of the PastChapter 10. Austria's Political Future: Some TrendsBibliographyIndex