2004 05 04 book reviews

2002, led to anticipated general elections, which resulted in a major loss of votes for the FPÖ. About this, only a very short and incomplete account is given in a brief postscript dated September 2002, which the author inserted at the end of the book probably just before this was sent to print. Nonetheless, Defiant Populist provides a quite comprehensive and interesting reading of the history and political fortunes of the FPÖ and of its – at least at the time the book was written – uncontested leadership, all this within the historical frame of Austrian politics.

The book consist in my opinion of two parts/approaches; the first part (chapters one to five) is mainly of a historical character. It is particularly relevant for an English speaking public who has only a basic knowledge of Austrian history and politics, but might be less interesting for those who are already acquainted with the history of the FPÖ and the political biography of Jörg Haider. The analysis of the facts and political actors that have made the FPÖ and particularly the “Haider phenomenon” possible is very detailed (at times perhaps too much) and leaves no doubt about the academic background of the author, but it also shows quite clearly the inside knowledge that Höbelt has on the subject, resulting from his former occupation as consultant for the FPÖ’s party academy. However, what the author wants to make clear to the reader in this first part of the book, is that the rise and success of the FPÖ and that of its now former leader can be understood only within the historical and political context of a country. From the second post-war period until very recently, Austria has led a very sheltered and apparently unproblematic existence both at the European level and within its own borders. In this sense, Jörg Haider has to be considered a particular Austrian political “product”, as Silvio Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi are in Italy the results of that particular historical and political scenario.

In the second part of the book, and particularly in chapters six and seven, Höbelt turns his attention to the analysis of two issues that many scholars still consider relevant in order to understand Haider’s political nature and success: namely the question of his Nazi legacies and his populist appeal. Höbelt is very critical of the way these two issues have been related to the FPÖ and its leadership. As regards the Nazi question, the author asserts that this charge is often based on a lack of historicization (Historisierung) and on a surplus of political correctness. Seeing facts in their historical perspective, means for the author being able to take distance from them, without denying their significance in the particular historical context they took place. Applied to Haider, this would for example mean that the appreciation of the unemployment policies in the Third Reich, or the cordial words of welcome addressed to the veterans of the Waffen-SS at Ulrichsberg, do not necessarily imply any present political connection to that period and ideology. Höbelt interprets Haider’s statements more as a mixture of lack of political correctness and calculated provocation, something Haider makes great use of in order to get the media attention. And the importance of the media in politics, is something the author believes Haider is very aware of, following the example of US politics, where this political strategy is very well-known and practiced.

What Höbelt seems to tell us in these last chapters is that, seen in a broader political perspective (for example the American), Jörg Haider is more of an “ordinary” political