| Politics Of Austria |
Article Index for Politics Of |
Website Links For Politics |
Information About ™Politics Of Austria |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT POLITICS OF AUSTRIA | |
| politics of austriapolitics of austria | |
| austria | |
| politics | |
| european politics | |
| politics by country | |
|
Politics of Austria takes place in a framework of a Federal Parliamentary Representative Democratic Republic , whereby the Chancellor is the Head Of Government , and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive Power is exercised by the government. Federal Legislative Power is vested in both the Government and the two chambers of parliament, the National Council and the Federal Council . Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Austrian People's Party and the social democratic Social Democratic Party Of Austria . The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The ethnically and culturally homogeneous Nation State of Austria is the small but prosperous remnant of Austria-Hungary , a vast multinational Empire that ceased to exist in 1918 . Having been an Authoritarian Monarchy with a thin veil of Constitutionality until then, Austria embarked on a first attempt at Republic an governance in the years following the collapse of the empire. This attempt quickly failed; Austria's First Republic (1918-1938) gradually degenerated into a Clerical Fascist Dictatorship between 1933 and 1934 and eventually embraced National Socialist Totalitarianism in 1938 . Following the defeat of National Socialism in 1945 , however, Austria began to incrementally evolve into a bona fide Liberal Democracy . As of the beginning of the twenty-first century, Austria's Second Republic presents itself as a stable Federal Republic with a Written Constitution , governed according to the principles of Representative Democracy and the Rule Of Law . The constitutional framework of the Politics of Austria and the marrow of the constitution's practical implementation are widely agreed to be robust and adequately conducive to peaceful change. CONSTITUTION ''Main article: Constitution Of Austria '' Even though the Republic of Austria is just slightly larger than Maine , Scotland , or Hokkaidō , and even though it is home to an ethnically and culturally homogeneous population of barely more than eight million people, Austria's Constitution characterizes the republic as a federation consisting of nine autonomous federal states. Both the federation and all its states have written constitutions defining them to be Republic an entities governed according to the principles of Representative Democracy . Aside from the fact that the States Of Austria lack an independent Judiciary on the one hand and that their autonomy is largely notional on the other hand, Austria's government structure is surprisingly similar to that of incomparably larger federal republics such as Germany or the United States . EXECUTIVE BRANCH Austria's Head Of State is the ''Bundespräsident'' (Federal President ), elected by popular vote for a term of six years and limited to two terms of office. The federal Cabinet consists of the ''Bundeskanzler'' (Federal Chancellor , prime minister) appointed by the president and a number of ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor. The federal cabinet is answerable to the National Council and can be forced to resign by a Motion Of No Confidence . Traditionally the president assigns the chairperson of the party with the largest number of seats in the National Council with building the cabinet. However the National Council is elected by Proportional Representation and different Coalitions of Parties represented in it are possible. Therefore the president cannot select a cabinet at his/her discretion but has to respect the will of the majority of deputies to the National Council. The office of the Federal President is largely ceremonial, although the constitution allows the president to dismiss the cabinet or to dissolve the National Council and call new elections. The ''Bundesversammlung'' ( Federal Assembly ), which is formed by National Council and Federal Council in joint session, can call a referendum on the impeachment of the president if it concludes that the president violated the constitution.
|