Policy In Austria Research Articles

Official Development Assistance of Austria after 2021

Assistance to developing countries, or the so-called “Third World” countries, is one of the areas of foreign policy activity in modern developed countries. It is provided to recipient countries in the form of loans, grants and other transfers to solve, first of all, social and economic problems. The Republic of Austria has a small territory and population, but at the same time it also has an efficient economy that encourages a high standard of living and a status of permanent neutrality allow it to play the role of a donor country for this type of assistance. In Austria, such policy is divided into two directions: “global” and “domestic”. Despite the commitment of many countries to "global" Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Republic of Austria ranks recipient countries of financial assistance in terms of its own national interests. In particular, the largest volumes of financial assistance are provided by Austria to the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. In this regard, the author considers the activities of the Austrian state in this area as the implementation of the most important element of Vienna’s “soft power” policy. This article is devoted to the policy that Austria pursues towards countries in need of economic, financial and humanitarian assistance. The key element of this policy is the “domestic” Austrian Development Cooperation Program (ADP), aimed at establishing economic ties and providing financial assistance to countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America (primarily the Caribbean), as well as to the other poorest countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Using methods of description and analysis, the article examines the historiography, foundations and essence of this policy in Austria, and also analyzes the new edition of one of the fundamental documents – the Three-Year Program of Austrian Development Policy from 2022 to 2024.

Modern practices of cultural policy in Austria and Ukraine: an attempt at philosophical conceptualisation

Modern practices of cultural policy in Austria and Ukraine: an attempt at philosophical conceptualisation

From policy to practice: how schools implement German language support policy in Austria

ABSTRACT In 2018/2019, the Government of Austria instituted a new language support model to Austrian schools that included segregated language support measures for non-fluent German-speaking students. The central research aim of the paper is to investigate how the implementation of this new language support model compares to the policy requirement by examining different models of implementation. In the framework of the initial phases of the project ‘A multi-perspective study on German language support’, 12 interviews with German language support teachers and school principals were conducted. Following a prototypical case study analysis, four models of implementation were identified: (1) Segregationmodel, (2) Mixed segregated and integrated model, (3) Individualized language support, and (4) Inclusive support model. Given that thisis the first study in Austria to show the concrete implementation models of German language support in schoolsFindings highlight important implications for school principals and educational policy makers.

From Gastarbeitersystem to Integration: Legal Aspects of Austrian Migration Policy

Abstract The purpose of this article is to present the most important legal regulations in the field of Austrian migration policy, taking into account the changes in this field, the nature of these changes and their conditions. The research question is whether the successive legal regulations were the result of clearly defined goals (and if so, whether these goals were achieved) or rather a result of pas sive adaptation to changing conditions. In the context of the slogan of integration advocated in recent years, it also seems essential to ask whether the legal solutions adopted in Austria strengthen integration or constitute an assimilationist tool. The article discusses such issues as the development of the system for the recruitment of foreign workers, changes in the perception of the phenomenon of migration and the reform of legislation in the field of migration policy in Austria. Moreover, attention is drawn to the most important determinants underlying this reform.

Media Literacy Policy for Unknown Media Audiences

Media literacy target audiences are an important part of media policy. Other national media policy objectives, such as quality and responsibility of the mass media, safety, and sustainability of the media environment, are also related to society’s media literacy. Aligning policy measures with the changing challenges of modern media use is not an easy task. Without systematic research, policy makers lack an in-depth understanding of the needs of media users and cannot be accurate in providing support mechanisms. By adopting a mediatization framework, this study seeks to dissect the symbiotic relationship between media and society within a mediatized context, paying particular attention to how media logic intertwines with various social subsystems and influences the trajectory of media policy development, specifically in the realm of media literacy. Drawing upon bibliographic data from the Mediadelcom project and conducting a meticulous content analysis of national media policy documents, we critically evaluate the media literacy policies in Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, and Slovakia. The study aims to underscore how an overreliance on media logic and negligence of audience needs thwarts the efficacy of media literacy policies, ultimately hindering their capacity to fulfil their intended objectives. This research endeavours to illuminate these dynamics, providing valuable insights and recommendations for policymakers striving to enhance media literacy and foster a more informed, responsible, and resilient media landscape.

“Mitteleuropa’s unique spiritual power has to flow into the common European culture” : György Sebestyén and cultural policies in Austria in the 1970s and 1990s

Austria’s ‘perpetual neutrality’, the price paid in 1955 for its independence and the withdrawal of Soviet troops, was the starting point of the Austrian ‘lone course’ to Mitteleuropa, carried out mainly thanks to the efforts of both political and intel- lectual actors. The fortunes of Austrian cultural policies received a considerable boost in the mid-Fifties, thanks to the efforts of Budapest-born Austrian writer and journalist György Sebestyén, who was to play a key role in the various stages of the Mitteleuropa process, favouring a transnational bond in the Danube region, which in the 1980s led Austria back into the middle of the action unfolding along and be- yond its Eastern borders. By exploring Austria’s cultural diplomacy with East-Cen- tral Europe from the 1950s to the 1990s, this article uses archival and press sources to show how political and intellectual Austrian elites constantly and skilfully devel- oped a new ‘transnational scenario’ in Mitteleuropa (even though the Iron Curtain constituted a fearsome border regime cutting the Alpine country off from its tradi- tional neighbours). This not only projected a new positive image of their country, veering between culture and dialogue, but also built new partnerships to buttress Austria as a cultural pioneer in the pan-European context.

Making the rich pay? Social democracy and wealth taxation in Europe in the aftermath of the great financial crisis

AbstractWhy is taxing the rich so difficult despite rising inequality and public support for progressive taxation? Recent research has mostly focused on the ‘demand side’ of electoral tax politics, showing that economic crises can increase public demands for progressive taxation in contemporary societies. Complementing this research, we focus on the political ‘supply side’, investigating the conditions under which social democratic parties take up these calls and translate them into policy. Studying wealth taxation in the course of the global financial crisis, we argue that whether parties pushed for taxing wealth crucially depended on intra-party struggles between the (office-seeking) leadership and the (policy-seeking) left wing. Only if the leadership became convinced that redistributive tax policy was electorally promising, did the social democratic parties fight for implementing wealth taxes. We evaluate this theoretical proposition in a comparative analysis of wealth tax policies in Austria, Germany and Spain in 2008–2015.

Combining biophysical modeling and Polanyian theory pleads for a re-embedding of the agricultural system in 2050 in Austria

Land use faces a double challenge: to provide biomass to a growing population while contributing to climate-change mitigation. We here scrutinize this challenge by exploring the domestic option space for meeting the food demand of Austria in 2050 under the condition of no deforestation. To that end, we bring together a quantitative assessment based on biogeochemical models with a socio-political analysis based on the conceptual framework of (dis-) embeddedness derived from Polanyian thinking. We consider viable options by modifying four levers: (i) human diet and food waste; (ii) trade patterns; (iii) agricultural practices; (iv) technical climate change mitigation. Past and present policies in Austria have fostered an agricultural system rich in animal products, land-use specialization and the integration of biomass products within international markets, ultimately resulting in a loss of embeddedness in the sense of Polanyi. The biophysical analysis, however, highlights that a shift towards diets with less animal products would allow increasing self-sufficiency or a generalization of organic farming while turning the agricultural and forestry sector into a net GHG sink. Following a Polanyian perspective, we show that feasible scenarios require different types of re-embedding of the agricultural system: ecological, spatial and social, implying that land products should rather be common goods than mere commodities.

A cross-national study of female police officers’ perception of gender equality policies

Abstract This article sets out to explore how gender equality legislation and policies are perceived by police officers and particularly the reasons for any negative reception among female officers. The findings presented in this article are drawn from a cross-national study on female police officers’ reception and perception of gender equality policies in Austria and England and Wales. Although the specific implementation of legal equality measures and frameworks differ between the two legal systems, the same rhetorical tools are used against them, with Austrian respondents often following these narratives while respondents from England and Wales tend to neutralise them. Based on the presented results, the article argues that comprehensive inclusion of all people into the police service must not only be built on individual legal measures but must also address the issue of police culture and its ideas in a holistic way, thus breaking old patterns and rethinking them in a sustainable way.

Exploring frame conflicts in the development of a new mineral resource policy in Austria using Q-methodology

Mineral resource policy deals not only with industrial and trade aspects but is nowadays also increasingly concerned with topics such as environmental protection and social development. The tensions associated with strongly divergent opinions among various stakeholder groups cast it as a ‘wicked problem’. The process of redeveloping the ‘Austrian Mineral Resources Strategy’ allows for examination of the different frames and identification of potential frame conflicts in consultation processes at the national level. Using Q-methodology, this paper reveals four frames represented in the Austrian policy design process and unravels conflicts between economy-focused and integrated policy framings. The predominance of the first frame indicates a narrow sectoral approach favouring domestic mineral extraction and economic growth over other means (e.g. international distributional conflicts of benefits and burdens). The article also demonstrates the suitability of Q-methodology as a tool to investigate frames and to improve their understanding in policy design processes.

“Voluntary Return” without Civil Society?

This article looks at the implementation of so-called “assisted voluntary return” policies in Austria and Britain, where state agencies have recently replaced nongovernmental organizations as providers of return counseling. To better understand how such a shift affects the in/voluntariness of return, I identify three dimensions along which the “quality” of voluntariness can be assessed and relate them to concrete aspects of return counseling practice: absence of coercion; availability of acceptable alternatives; and access to adequate and trusted information. Based on original qualitative data, I show that even within an overall restrictive and oppressive regime, return counselors can make room for voluntariness by upholding ethical and procedural standards—if they retain substantial independence from the government.

Pharmaceutical regulation and policies in Austria

Austria is a middle-sized, high-income country in Central Europe with universal health coverage and a highly fragmented health care system. Medicines for outpatient use that are reimbursed by the social health insurance are price-regulated, whereas medicines for inpatient use are neither subject to price regulation nor to health technology assessment (HTA). These medicines are procured by hospitals, hospital groups and provinces which are the main owner of public hospitals. The major pricing policy for new medicines in the outpatient sector is external price referencing. Austria refers to all other 26 European Union (EU) Member States; the determined benchmark price must not exceed the EU average price. External price referencing is based on list prices, but the statutory manufacturer discounts applicable in some reference countries are considered. Regular price reviews with subsequent price adjustments are in place. For generic and biosimilar medicines to be included in the outpatient positive list, a price link policy is applied with different reduction rates for generics and biosimilars. In the supply chain, prices of all medicines are regulated through regressive mark-up schemes for wholesale and community pharmacies. The inclusion in the outpatient positive list is based on an HTA process which comprises pharmacological, medical-therapeutic and economic evaluations, followed by price negotiations about the reimbursement price. For medicines with high financial burden for the public payers, the Austrian Social Insurance (for the outpatient sector) and procurers for hospitals tend to conclude managed-entry agreements with confidential discounts. For outpatient medicines, patients are charged a fixed prescription fee per prescribed item; no further co-payments apply for outpatient or inpatient medicines. Studies have shown that the current pricing and reimbursement policies in Austria have contributed to keep prices of outpatient medicines stable (high-cost medicines tend to range above EU average), whereas the unregulated prices of medicines used in hospitals are frequently the highest in European comparison. Pharmacy mark-ups are also high in comparison to other European countries.

Comparative inter-country analysis of assessment of the effectiveness of state housing policy: statistical instruments

The article provides a comparative analysis of assessment of the effectiveness of housing policies in Austria, Germany and Russia in the context of the adequate housing concept. In modern world management practice, there is no universal set of criteria for assessing the housing policy effectiveness, however, there are sets of indicators in the public information resources of these countries that can reflect such an assessment. The only problem is information asymmetry, in which each country forms its own set of estimated indicators, which leads to their incomparability. At that, the need for such data exists in connection with the need to update the current results of the housing policy implementation and the assessment of current trends in the housing sector development.
 Each country has its own mechanism for assessing the effectiveness of housing policy, based on its own set of parameters corresponding to the determined goals and directions of the housing sector development.
 Adequate housing as a criterion for assessing the effectiveness of the housing policy implementation allows a full demonstration of the effectiveness of measures implemented by the state in the housing sector.
 The concept of adequate housing, as an actual doctrine of the national development of the housing sector, allows for a comparative analysis of the housing policy of different countries by assessing and comparing the effects of its implementation.
 According to the study of housing policy in Austria, Germany and Russia, it was determined that the national model of housing policy evolves in the development of concepts, goals, implementation mechanism and depends both on the level of satisfaction of the need for housing, and on historical experience, traditions and socio-economic characteristics of management at this stage.

Four Paths To Misperceptions: A Panel Study On Resistance Against Journalistic Evidence

ABSTRACT Citizens’ misperceptions on critical issues such as climate change, migration, or health are viewed as a major problem in today’s democratic systems. A large body of literature shows how inaccurate information might lead to misperceptions despite of corrections and retractions. This study highlights individuals’ acts of resistance against journalistic reporting as a driver of misperceptions. Based on the framework of resistance strategies, we examine four processes which enable individuals to arrive at political realities that differ from the facts that are reported in the legacy media: 1) avoidance of the evidence; 2) biased evaluation of journalists’ expert opinion as a form of biased processing; 3) contesting the content and source of evidence; and 4) bolstering attitudes by seeking out like-minded discussions. We apply this theoretical model to explain misperceptions on the political “Ibiza scandal” and misperceptions about climate change policies in Austria. Findings from a two-wave panel study in the Austrian election context (N = 523) suggest that misperceptions stem in part from wrong inferences about journalistic expert opinion. Moreover, individuals that engage in source derogation of legacy media are able to uphold their misperceptions in the face of opposing evidence.

Zur Bedeutung des Freihandels und globaler Wertschöpfungsketten für Deutschland und Österreich

Vielerorts wurde aufgrund der COVID-19 Pandemie hinterfragt, ob die derzeitige globale wirtschaftliche Vernetzung weiterhin wünschenswert sei, und ob nicht eine Re-Regionalisierung der Produktion angestrebt werden sollte. Im Rahmen dieses Beitrags erörtern wir deshalb die Bedeutung des Freihandels, im Speziellen der ausländischen Endnachfrage, für die Wertschöpfung in Deutschland und Österreich. Es zeigt sich, dass sowohl Deutschland als auch Österreich eng in globale Wertschöpfungsketten integriert sind und eine vergleichsweise zentrale Position einnehmen. Darüber hinaus wird deutlich, dass rund ein Drittel der Wertschöpfung in Deutschland und Österreich schließlich im Ausland konsumiert oder investiert wird. In Industriebranchen ist der Anteil der im Ausland der Endnachfrage zugeführten Wertschöpfung deutlich höher und beträgt in einzelnen Branchen über 80 %. Auch für einzelne im Außenhandel wichtige Dienstleistungsbranchen wie dem Großhandel oder Finanzdienstleistungen ist die globale Verflechtung zentral. Aufgrund der hohen volkswirtschaftlichen Kosten, die mit einer Re-Regionalisierung aufgrund von möglichen Vergeltungsmaßnahmen sowie möglichen mittelfristigen Verlusten von Spezialisierungsvorteilen einhergehen, sollte die COVID-19 Pandemie nicht als Anlass für eine Rückkehr zu einer protektionistischeren Handelspolitik herangezogen werden. Vielmehr soll das Ziel der Wirtschaftspolitik sein, die Rolle deutscher und österreichischer Unternehmen im Außenhandel und globalen Wertschöpfungsketten durch eine Steigerung der Produktivität zu stärken und eine Weiterentwicklung der europäischen und weltweiten Integration voranzutreiben.

Data Access for the Social Sciences in Austria. Open Data, Closed Data, Research Infrastructures and Re-Use

Open science and open access to research data are important aspects of research policy in Austria. In the last years, the social sciences have seen the building of research infrastructures that generate data and archives that store data. Data standards have been established, several working groups exist and a number of activities aim to further develop various aspects of open science, open data and access to data. However, some barriers and challenges still exist in the practice of sharing research data. One aspect that should be emphasised and incentivised is the re-use of research data.

Asylum seekers and refugees in Austria: public policy and attitudes

Austria continues to be one of the most attractive countries for asylum seekers among all EU countries. The main objective of this paper is to identify how the current political status of refugees and asylum seekers influences the Austrian economy. This study has shown that oil shocks had highly negative consequences for migrants in Austria. When accessing the Austrian labor market, some of the most striking features that affect the participation of migrants are discrimination based on restricted accessibility to high-wage sectors and pay gaps and discrimination in recruitment. However, the econometric analysis shows that immigration flows have a positive effect on the economic growth of the country. On the other hand, the results showed that there was prejudice and incorrect reporting, which increased the illegalization of asylum seekers. All of these factors create obstacles for immigrants to properly integrate into the labor market. However, the results of the panel data analysis among European countries has shown that the immigration flow has had a positive impact on GDP growth. Labor market conditions for immigrants become crucial from this point of view. It can be concluded that the national asylum policy in Austria was progressively limiting and outweighed Austrian humanitarian interests. A more inclusive policy could contribute to the economic growth of the country.

Embedding Social Innovation and Service Learning in Higher Education's Third Sector Policy Developments in Austria

Social innovation in Austrian HEIs is discussed under the headline of their “Third Mission.” The HE sector is pressured to have more and more impact on society. Internationally speaking, many countries benefit from national policies and networks in the Third Sector, but policies in Austria were initiated only recently, in 2017, on a national level. Interestingly, the service learning approach as an innovative and socially responsible teaching methodology stands out in Austrian HE. This article classifies the developments of the Third Sector in Austria in the form of a policy brief. Austria has a growing community of practice in social innovation and service learning. The article gives insight into the strategic developments in Austria and is underpinned with recommendable action to be transferred to others.

Education policy and the socio-spatiality of school reform – learning support spaces as perceived by students in the context of the new middle school policy in Austria

Abstract Education policies are socio-spatially sensitive and, depending on the local situation, can be interpreted and understood differently. The concept of perceived learning support spaces (e.g. student cooperation, student-teacher relationships) refers to an understanding that students’ school experiences are situated within the school. Using the example of the introduction of a new type of school, the new middle school (NMS), in Austria, and based on the longitudinal data of a national evaluation project (NOESIS), this article aims to clarify the extent to which, and how, student learning support spaces are perceived as local social conditions inside and outside school, and how this can explain changes in students’ educational aspirations, which was the objective of the NMS reform. In this sense, the reform policy of introducing the new middle school is examined from the perspective of the students themselves. The results from the panel analyses demonstrate that the perceived learning support spaces are highly relevant in explaining students’ aspirations.

Walking the (argumentative) talk using citizen science: involving young people in a critical policy analysis of vaccination policy in Austria

Background:Vaccination policy has grown increasingly polarised, and concerns about vaccination practices are often articulated jointly with fears over declining trust in scientific expertise and the demise of evidence-based policy. This has led to a discursive deadlock in which evidence comes to denote something that is crafted and monopolised by a trained élite, with no role to play for the workings of democracy. Our own methodologies tend to accentuate this epistemic hierarchy, for much qualitative research relies on élite interviews with officials and scientific experts. The introduction of the vaccine against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), on which we report in this paper, is a case in point. Objectives and methods:With this study, we intervene in this discursive and methodological deadlock using unconventional methods: inspired by the participatory spirit of the ‘argumentative turn’ in policy analysis, we experimented with citizen science to produce critical knowledge about HPV policy in Austria and simultaneously intervene in this expert-driven policy discourse. Specifically, we involved adolescents in analysing HPV policy discourse using press releases and a combination of inductive and deductive textual coding. Findings and conclusions:Our results point to the sidelining of sexuality and gender in the presentation of scientific evidence on HPV in press releases, and highlight the dominance of the pharmaceutical industry in shaping the political-administrative decision to offer the HPV vaccine to all children in 2014. Our study points to ways of integrating citizen science in the social sciences and contributes to a rethinking of methodologies in qualitative policy analysis.