Austria: Party Government Within Limits

Abstract

Two types of government, the grand coalition and the single-party cabinet, have shaped Austrian politics during the post-war period, except for two years of all-party government in the immediate post-war period (1945–7) and for three years of Social Democrat-Liberal government between 1983 and 1986. There have been grand coalitions between 1945 and 1966 and after 1987; they were led, during the first period by the People’s Party (ÖVP), and during the second by the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ). There were two kinds of single-party government, an ÖVP government which replaced the grand coalition in 1966 and was defeated in 1970 and an SPÖ cabinet formed first as a minority government and subsequently gaining majority status in 1971, a status which it maintained until 1983. This chapter relates to the characteristics of the grand coalition of SPÖ and ÖVP which took place after 1987