The aim of this study is to provide an investigation of an ”old” political phenomenon that over the recent years has enjoyed a considerable revival across Europe. This study about nationalism is mainly based on empirical second hand source material from literature and articles providing us with both a historical as well as a contemporary insight in this ideology.   This study shows us the complexity and the difficulties that the academia is facing regarding nationalism due to the dynamic nature of the ideology, in the sense that it simply means different things to different peoples in different cultures across different points in time. The study is conducted by using a phenomenological, qualitative and inductive method of gathering and interpreting information.  A handful of books have formed the foundation through the gathering of relevant empirical information, along with articles from both scientific publications as well as the mainstream media. The data have been studied and laid out to make key points regarding nationalism and the theory behind it clear for the reader. These tomes have been selected primarily due to their relevance and their scientific credibility though comprehensively presented sources and comprehensive content, secondly because of the authors which some of are often quoted in discussions about nationalism.   The case for this study is the Austrian party FPÖ that has been a key player in Austrian as well as European politics. Analyzing this party helps us to understand the new wave of nationalism across Europe that has emerged in the recent years.

<p>In this research paper I have interpreted and analysed how it is possible for a Radical Right Populist Party such as FPÖ (The Freedom Party) to obtain electoral success in the end of the last millennium. In 1999 they were elected into the national legislative parliament with 26.9% of the votes and participated in the Shüssel government from February 2000. I believe this is an extreme case study and my method is the so called Disciplined-configurative case study. I’ve conducted this study by using earlier published research and than dividing these old theories into to three analytical categories. By doing this I hopefully came closer to understand the problem with FPÖ: s electoral success in a better way than before. The interpretation of the data was enabled by a structural theory-method and my findings were that the FPÖ used the rapid and macro-societal changes in an effective way by mobilising a great share of some strata that to some extent were of a cross-class nature in the Austrian electorate 1999. This was possible as a consequence of bad management by the conventional political parties (SPÖ, ÖVP) and their party-functionaries. Other findings were that the electorate system is crucial for the success of Radical Right Populist Partiers such as FPÖ and that the Austrian party system was a match with its low threshold for parliamentary representation and its proportional electoral system.</p><p>Key words: Radical Right Populist Parties, FPÖ, Austrian domestic politics</p>

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.

In this research paper I have interpreted and analysed how it is possible for a Radical Right Populist Party such as FPÖ (The Freedom Party) to obtain electoral success in the end of the last millennium. In 1999 they were elected into the national legislative parliament with 26.9% of the votes and participated in the Shüssel government from February 2000. I believe this is an extreme case study and my method is the so called Disciplined-configurative case study. I’ve conducted this study by using earlier published research and than dividing these old theories into to three analytical categories. By doing this I hopefully came closer to understand the problem with FPÖ: s electoral success in a better way than before. The interpretation of the data was enabled by a structural theory-method and my findings were that the FPÖ used the rapid and macro-societal changes in an effective way by mobilising a great share of some strata that to some extent were of a cross-class nature in the Austrian electorate 1999. This was possible as a consequence of bad management by the conventional political parties (SPÖ, ÖVP) and their party-functionaries. Other findings were that the electorate system is crucial for the success of Radical Right Populist Partiers such as FPÖ and that the Austrian party system was a match with its low threshold for parliamentary representation and its proportional electoral system. Key words: Radical Right Populist Parties, FPÖ, Austrian domestic politics

diplomové práce v anglickém jazyce: EU sanctions against Austria in 2000 in the context of the position of Austria in the European Union. Application of constructivist theory on the case The Master thesis EU sanctions against Austria in 2000 in the context of the position of Austria in the European Union. Application of constructivist theory on the case tried to analyse the Austrian case from the constructivist perspective. The thesis attempted to verify the hypothesis that the Member States of the European Union wrongly assessed the impact of Haider's FPÖ on the Austrian democratic development and the European Union itself, claiming that the participation of the FPÖ in the Austrian federal government was jeopardizing its democratic values. In fact there was no evidence for this allegation despite the nature of the FPÖ which was confirmed as being far-right in some aspects (for instance its xenophobia). It has been shown that the participation of the FPÖ in the Austrian government (rather than its isolation, which might have led to even bigger support) was in a certain way a guarantee that democracy and the common values of the European Union would be upheld. Furthermore the thesis tried to answer the question whether the inclusion of the FPÖ in the governmental coalition had posed a real danger...