Politicizing Islam in Austria: The Far-Right Impact in the Twenty-First Century

Among its Continental peers, Austria has stood out for its longstanding state recognition of the Muslim community as early as 1912. A shift has occurred more recently, however, as populist far-right voices within the Austrian government have redirected public discourse and put into question Islam's previously accepted autonomous status within the country.

Politicizing Islam in Austria examines this anti-Muslim swerve in Austrian politics through a comprehensive analysis of government policies and regulations, as well as party and public discourses. In their innovative study, Hafez and Heinisch show how the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) adapted anti-Muslim discourse to their political purposes and how that discourse was then appropriated by the conservative center-right Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). This reconfiguration of the political landscape prepared the way for a right-wing coalition government between conservatives and far-right actors that would subsequently institutionalize anti-Muslim political demands and change the shape of the civic conditions and public perceptions of Islam and the Muslim community in the republic.



About the Author
FARID HAFEZ is the Class of 1955 Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Studies at Williams College in Massachusetts. He is an award-winning author and coeditor of several books, including The Rise of Global Islamophobia in the War on Terror: Coloniality, Race, and Islam.

REINHARD HEINISCH is a professor of comparative Austrian political science at the University of Salzburg. He is the author and coeditor of several books, including Understanding Populist Party Organization: The Radical Right in Western Europe.