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Radical Right Political Parties and Public Policy in Germany and Austria Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2009 Important or Impotent? Radical Right Political Parties and Public Policy in Germany and Austria Marcella J. Myers Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the International Relations Commons, and the Public Policy Commons Recommended Citation Myers, Marcella J., "Important or Impotent? Radical Right Political Parties and Public Policy in Germany and Austria" (2009). Dissertations. 717. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/717 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMPORTANT OR IMPOTENT? RADICAL RIGHT POLITICAL PARTIES AND PUBLIC POLICY IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA by Marcella J. Myers Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science Advisor: Gunther Hega, Ph.D. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 2009 IMPORTANT OR IMPOTENT? RADICAL RIGHT POLITICAL PARTIES AND PUBLIC POLICY IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA Marcella J. Myers, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2009 Across Western Europe throughout the 1990s radical right political parties emerged and gained some electoral success. Since that time, particularly in the face of the popularity of the National Front in France and the Freedom Party in Austria, many studies have been conducted examining the voting behavior, party membership and ideologies of these parties, and what the parties mean to democratic governments. Largely unexamined are the effects of radical right political parties on public policy. This study attempts to evaluate the effect of radical right parties on public policy by using a most similar, case study research design, relying heavily on legislative debates and proposals to changes in program requirements, and policy change over time in Germany and Austria. Education, minimum income supports and housing are the public policies chosen for assessment in this study. Copyright by Marcella J. Myers 2009 UMI Number: 3392153 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3392153 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thanks to Dr. Gunther Hega for your feedback, suggestions and editing. Thank you to my committee, for your valuable suggestions and willingness to see this long process through to its completion. Cyril and Gabrielle, thank you for your support, time, understanding, and patience. Thank you mom and dad. Marcella J. Myers ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER I. POLITICAL PARTIES, WELFARE STATES, AND POLICYMAKING 1 Introduction 1 Literature Review 4 Political Parties 5 Welfare States 22 Policymaking Theories 41 Case Selection 46 Data 51 Conclusion 54 II. GOVERNMENT, PARTY SYSTEMS, AND PARTIES 57 Germany 60 German Federalism 60 German Party System 66 Political Parties 69 Austria 78 Austrian Federalism 78 iii Table of Contents—continued CHAPTER Austrian Party System 83 Political Parties 86 Conclusion 94 III. EDUCATION POLICY 97 Facets of Education Policy 101 Compulsory Education 101 Human Capital Investment 104 Education, Skills, and Employment 105 Wealth Effect 108 Education, Decentralization, and Funding 109 German Education 116 School System 120 Baden-Wurttemberg 125 Hesse 136 Austrian Education 142 School System 148 Karnten 154 Tirol 162 Conclusion 166 iv Table of Contents—continued CHAPTER IV. TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY: MINIMUM INCOME SUPPORTS 171 Income Maintenance 172 Politics of Redistribution 174 Stigmatization and Non Take-up 179 Germany 182 Baden-Wurttemberg 186 Hesse 191 Austria 194 Karnten 196 Tirol 198 Conclusion 201 V. HOUSING POLICY 205 Philosophies of Housing Policy 206 Policy Instruments: Public vs. Private 208 German Housing Policy 210 Baden-Wiirttemberg 216 Hesse 222 Austrian Housing Policy 226 Karnten 229 Tirol 231 Conclusion 235 v Table of Contents—continued CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION 240 The Parties 240 Party Effect 241 Republikaner 243 FPO 245 Do Parties Matter? 246 Policies and Policy Making 247 Education Policy 249 Income Maintenance 251 Housing Policy 252 Institutions 253 Further Research 255 REFERENCES 259 VI LIST OF TABLES 1. Foreign population in Hesse and Baden-Wurttemberg 49 2. Foreign population in Austria, Karnten, and Tirol 50 3. Trends in unemployment by educational attainment 103 4. Foreign students in public and private general education schools in Baden-Wurttemberg 130 5. Students at public and privates schools 152 6. HLU Recipients outside and inside of institutions in Baden- Wurttemberg 188 7. Recipients of HLU: by gender and German citizenship 192 8. Public social expenditure: housing 207 9. Recipients of rent subsidy 217 10. Average monthly housing benefit in Baden-Wurttemberg 218 11. Percentage of housing subsidy recipients 223 12. Completed residential buildings in Austria 232 13. Austrian population 234 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Strategic Choices and Party Aims 19 2. Level of Centralization 96 3. German Education System 125 4. Austrian Education System 150 viii CHAPTER I POLITICAL PARTIES, WELFARE STATES, AND POLICYMAKING Introduction Initially when radical right parties were elected to parliaments in European democracies a great deal of concern was generated. This was particularly true in the case of Jorg Haider and the FPO in Austria, but in other countries as well, namely the Republikan party in Germany. Conventional wisdom assumed that things, politically speaking, would change or that the election of these parties to regional parliaments was some indication of the resurgence of fascism in Europe. Questions were raised regarding what the election of these parties to regional parliaments implied for democratic government and a great deal of research regarding the nature of these parties, who belonged to them, why these parties surfaced relatively more powerful than in previous elections, and who voted for them was generated. The question largely left unanswered is how these parties have behaved within the boundaries of democratic government, and have they changed the democratic process or public policy in meaningful ways. Specifically, are radical right political parties able to influence public policy outcomes? To address the question of whether radical right parties influence policy outcomes through an evaluation of policy making in regional parliaments. I have 1 chosen a most similar case study, using regional parliaments in Germany and Austria. The choice of regional parliaments was made because this is the level of government where these parties have been most successful in winning and maintaining seats in parliament, for a period of eight years in Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany, and since 1992 in Karnten Austria up to the present day. The four case studies have been chosen for research; they are regional governments in Germany and Austria; both countries are federal governments and have developed Christian democratic/corporatist welfare regimes and adhere to the principle of subsidiarity.l Furthermore, radical right political parties have found some electoral success in regional parliaments in Germany and Austria. The Lander chosen for regional analysis are Hesse and Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany and Tirol and Karnten in Austria. Hesse and Baden-Wurttemberg have a similar economic base and population. Tirol and Karnten share similar economic bases and population. In the Austrian cases, Karnten has been governed by the FPO since the early nineties, in Tirol though there has been a presence of the FPO in the regional parliament; it is one of several small parties and not a member of the governing coalition during the time period studied. Baden-Wurttemberg and Karnten are characterized not only by the participation of radical right political parties in regional government and/or 1 "German Christian - especially Catholic - social doctrine focuses on the principle of subsidiarity, according to which public policies should be carried out at the lowest level possible. This principle has been adopted to a considerable extent by federal law makers, who have delegated to or authorized private, nongovernmental agencies to carry out numerous social welfare functions with considerable public financial support" (Gunlicks 2003, 108). 2 parliament; they also experienced such participation in varying degrees of strength. Karnten has arguably one of the strongest and most influential radical right political parties in Europe. In Baden-Wurttemberg the Republikaner held seats in parliament beginning in 1992 for two legislative periods, ultimately loosing those seats in the 2000 Land elections. Hesse and Tirol will serve as control cases. The German Land Hesse and the Austrian Land Tirol did not have a radical right
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