In 2005, Austria celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its liberation from the Nazi regime and the fiftieth anniversary of the State Treaty that ended the occupation and returned full sovereignty to the country. This volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies covers foreign policy in the twentieth century. It offers an up-to-date status report of Austria's foreign policy trajectories and diplomatic options.Eva Nowotny, the current Austrian ambassador to the United States, introduces the volume with an analysis of the art and practice of Austrian diplomacy in historical perspective. Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch analyzes recent Balkans diplomacy as an EU emissary in the Bosnian and Kosovo crises. Historians Gunther Kronenbitter, Alexander Lassner, Gunter Bischof, Joanna Granville, and Martin Kofler provide historical case studies of pre-and post-World War I and World War II Austrian diplomacy, Austria's dealings with the Hungarian crisis of 1956, and its mediation between Kennedy and Khrushchev in the early 1960s. Political scientists Romain Kirt, Stefan Mayer, and Gunther Hauser analyze small states' foreign policymaking in a globalizing world, Austrian federal states' separate regional policy initiatives abroad and Austria's role vis-a-vis current European security initiatives. Michael Gehler periodizes post-World War II Austrian foreign policy regimes and provides a valuable summary of both the available archival and printed diplomatic source collections. A "Historiography Roundtable" is dedicated to the Austrian Occupation decade. Gunter Bischof reports on the state of occupation historiography; Oliver Rathkolb on the historical memory of the occupation; Michael Gehler on the context of the German question; and Wolfgang Mueller and Norman Naimark on Stalin's Cold War and Soviet policies towards Austria during those years. Review essays and book reviews on art theft, anti-Semitism, the Hungarian crisis of 1956, among other topics, complete the volume.

The notion that neutrality is a phenomenon only relevant to the Cold War is false in many ways. The Cold War was about building blocks, neutrality about staying out of them. From 1975 until the end of the Cold War, neutral states offered mediation and good offices and fought against the stagnation of the detente policy especially in the framework of the CSCE. After the end of the Cold War, neutral states became active in peace-operations outside of military alliances. The concept of neutrality has proven time and again that it can adapt to new situations. In many ways, small neutral states have more room to maneuver than members of alliances or big powers. They have more acceptance and fewer geopolitical interests. Neutrality has been declared obsolete many times in its long and layered history., yet it has also made many comebacks in varying forms and contexts. Neutrality in the 21st century does not involve to staying out but engaging. In contrast to disengagement and staying out, engaged neutrality entails active participation in the international security policy in general and in international peace operations in particular. Engaged neutrality means involvement whenever possible and staying out only if necessary.

In 2005, Austria celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its liberation from the Nazi regime and the fiftieth anniversary of the State Treaty that ended the occupation and returned full sovereignty to the country. This volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies covers foreign policy in the twentieth century. It offers an up-to-date status report of Austria's foreign policy trajectories and diplomatic options.

Eva Nowotny, the current Austrian ambassador to the United States, introduces the volume with an analysis of the art and practice of Austrian diplomacy in historical perspective. Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch analyzes recent Balkans diplomacy as an EU emissary in the Bosnian and Kosovo crises. Historians Gunther Kronenbitter, Alexander Lassner, Gunter Bischof, Joanna Granville, and Martin Kofler provide historical case studies of pre-and post-World War I and World War II Austrian diplomacy, Austria's dealings with the Hungarian crisis of 1956, and its mediation between Kennedy and Khrushchev in the early 1960s. Political scientists Romain Kirt, Stefan Mayer, and Gunther Hauser analyze small states' foreign policymaking in a globalizing world, Austrian federal states' separate regional policy initiatives abroad and Austria's role vis-a-vis current European security initiatives. Michael Gehler periodizes post-World War II Austrian foreign policy regimes and provides a valuable summary of both the available archival and printed diplomatic source collections. A "Historiography Roundtable" is dedicated to the Austrian Occupation decade. Gunter Bischof reports on the state of occupation historiography; Oliver Rathkolb on the historical memory of the occupation; Michael Gehler on the context of the German question; and Wolfgang Mueller and Norman Naimark on Stalin's Cold War and Soviet policies towards Austria during those years. Review essays and book reviews on art theft, anti-Semitism, the Hungarian crisis of 1956, among other topics, complete the volume.

This is the companion volume to "Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945," Christian Democratic (CD) parties became the dominant political force in post-war Western Europe, and the European People's Party is currently the largest group in the European Parliament. CD parties and political leaders like Adenauer, Schuman and De Gasperi played a particularly important role in the evolution of the core Europe of the EEC/EC after 1945.
This book, for the first time, reveals the roles of the CD parties in postwar Europe, systematically and from a pan-European perspective. All country chapters address the same questions about the parties' membership and social organization; their economic and social policies; and their European and international policies during the Cold War. Rather than simply covering Western Europe, it includes chapters on East-Central Europe in the first years after 1945 before their suppression.
An introductory survey chapter, by eminent British historian Peter Pulzer reveals the international context for the development of European CD parties in the 20th century; and a comparative chapter - by Anton Pelinka - draws together the main results of the individual chapters from a pan-European perspective. Furthermore, two chapters on the much-neglected transnational cooperation of these parties and their influence on the process of European integration after 1945 complement the country chapters.
This volume (and its companion volume) are research based and will be accessible to undergraduate and graduate students. As Christian Democratic parties are the least researched compared with Socialist or Communist parties, and with no CD parties in the US or the UK, hardlyany useful literature exists in English which can be used on 20th century and postwar European history courses, or more specialized history or country courses. This book therefore fills a significant gap in postwar European history, and will prove valuable to researchers and students of European studies, politics and history.

This is the companion volume to "Political Catholicism in Europe 1918-1945," Christian Democratic (CD) parties became the dominant political force in post-war Western Europe, and the European People's Party is currently the largest group in the European Parliament. CD parties and political leaders like Adenauer, Schuman and De Gasperi played a particularly important role in the evolution of the core Europe of the EEC/EC after 1945.
This book, for the first time, reveals the roles of the CD parties in postwar Europe, systematically and from a pan-European perspective. All country chapters address the same questions about the parties' membership and social organization; their economic and social policies; and their European and international policies during the Cold War. Rather than simply covering Western Europe, it includes chapters on East-Central Europe in the first years after 1945 before their suppression.
An introductory survey chapter, by eminent British historian Peter Pulzer reveals the international context for the development of European CD parties in the 20th century; and a comparative chapter - by Anton Pelinka - draws together the main results of the individual chapters from a pan-European perspective. Furthermore, two chapters on the much-neglected transnational cooperation of these parties and their influence on the process of European integration after 1945 complement the country chapters.
This volume (and its companion volume) are research based and will be accessible to undergraduate and graduate students. As Christian Democratic parties are the least researched compared with Socialist or Communist parties, and with no CD parties in the US or the UK, hardlyany useful literature exists in English which can be used on 20th century and postwar European history courses, or more specialized history or country courses. This book therefore fills a significant gap in postwar European history, and will prove valuable to researchers and students of European studies, politics and history.

The articles of this comprehensive edited volume offer a multidisciplinary, global and comparative approach to the history of empires. They analyze their ends over a long spectrum of humankind's history, ranging from Ancient History through Modern Times. As the main guiding question, every author of this volume scrutinizes the reasons for the decline, the erosion, and the implosion of individual empires. All contributions locate and highlight different factors that triggered or at least supported the ending or the implosion of empires. This overall question makes all the contributions to this volume comparable and allows to detect similarities, differences as well as inconsistencies of historical processes.