Zur Qualität der österreichischen Demokratie

The text documents results of a desk audit on the quality of democracy in Austria in comparison with audits undertaken in the UK. After the two introductory chapters of Part I, Chapter 3 provides an overview of various approaches to defining and measuring the quality of democracy and a range of related problems. Chapter 4 then considers in some depth the results of "The Democratic Audit of the United Kingdom", the research that provided the impetus for commencing our study. The reader is given a short historical overview of the political and democratic culture of the UK to introduce the genesis of the Democratic Audit. The development of the 30 Democratic Audit Criteria is traced from David Beetham`s two fundamental principles defining a "liberal democracy" - popular control and political equality - and his four derived elements: free and fair elections; open, accountable and responsive government; civil and political rights and liberties; and a democratic society. The present authors have compiled a synthesis of the results presented in the two major publications of the Democratic Audit - "The Three Pillars of Liberty" (1996) and "Political Power and Democratic Control in Britain" (1999) - noting both compliance and deficits in terms of the evolving international human rights standards, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights. Based on Beetham`s two fundamental principles, eight themes in relation to the quality of democracy in Austria are analysed in Chapter 5: the relationship between government and parliament at federal level; the political party system; the social partnership (collaboration between the government and interest groups such as unions and employers` organizations); interest groups in civil society; the electoral system; "direct democracy"; aspects of gender equality; and the inclusive- and exclusiveness of political and civil rights as they relate to non-Austrians. Critical comments regarding the status quo are complemented by ideas for possible democratic reform. In Chapter 6, the authors make specific comparisons between the UK and Austrian situations. The results suggest that the situation in Austria regarding the relationship between government and parliament, the electoral system and direct democracy matches Beetham`s principles better than is the case for the UK, while the opposite is true for the situation of some groups of non-UK citizens. Some reflections on related open questions complete Part I. Part II comprises Weir`s desk audit of six democracies (1994), and the extended summaries of the two major Democratic Audit publications referred to above. The aim is to make these important findings available to a wider public.