No / The 15 essays collected here focus on literary and cultural relations between Germany or Austria on the one hand and the neighbouring countries of eastern and southern Europe on the other, with particular reference to the period since the Wende, but also with a glance back to the period of German division. Topics include the overarching theme of psychological, political, historical and geographical boundaries and the perspective offered by German writers from both East and West on Poland, Russia and neighbouring countries. Equally important to the contributors are specific authors who have crossed national and cultural borders, such as Libu¿e Moníková, Irena Bre¿na, Richard Wagner and Hans Bergel. The role of memory, Vergangenheit, time and space are examined in the context of works by Anna Mitgutsch, W G Sebald, Christoph Ransmayr and Elisabeth Reichart, and the reception of the theories of Pierre Nora in the German-speaking countries. The re-emergence of t! he Right in politics, drama and film forms a further dimension explored in these essays. Neighbours and Strangers will be of interest to students and scholars working on contemporary German and Austrian culture.

The extraordinary political success achieved by the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) under the leadership of Jörg Haider during the 1990s is widely known as the ¿Haider Phenomenon¿ in academic literature. This thesis is a cultural-historical investigation into the roots of Haider¿s political breakthrough in Austrian politics during the 1990s. My aim has been to try to understand this political phenomenon in the context of Austrian cultural and historical forces and set out the political developments that enabled Haider (almost) to achieve the Austrian Chancellorship in 2000. There is already a considerable amount of scholarship available on this subject ¿ particularly in German. This thesis aims to enrich this scholarship by uncovering some previously neglected cultural-historical aspects relating to the rise of Haider. During my research, I found a rich vein of sources pointing to the centrality of Kultur in any understanding of political-historical developments in 20th century Austria. This is certainly the case in regards to Haider¿s FPÖ, which actually initiated a Kulturkampf as part of their populist political strategy in the 1990s. This study will also add to the body of work about the growth of right wing populism throughout Europe in the last twenty years. More importantly however, my thesis highlights the importance of focusing on local and country-specific aspects of such a political phenomenon in order to explain the causes of its success. Otherwise, there is a danger of superficial or generalized conclusions being made that distract from a deeper comprehension of events.