The Role of Kultur in the Austrian Freedom Party’s Political Strategy under

This paper arises out of an ongoing research project focussing on the cultural policies and rhetoric of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) under Jörg Haider. Initially, my thesis sought a socio-political ‘explanation’ for the remarkable rise of the far-right in Austria. However, most academic sources have very little to say about the FPÖ’s kulturpolitik . I took the opportunity of getting a different insight into this Austrian political phenomenon with the aim of shedding light on the character of Haider’s FPÖ which emerges from a cultural analysis. The sources for this paper are numerous and very scattered, they fall mostly into two catagories texts from the Freedom Party itself and responses to the FPÖ’s cultural stance from artists, writers and political activists.