Proporz - Degeneration and Reform

Degeneration and Reform

However, the doctrine was later charged with having degenerated into a system of patronage and nepotism pervading too many aspects of Austrian life. Positions down to minor bureaucratic posts were commonly allocated by party membership. The reaches of Proporz went as far as the educational system and even the banking business, in which political parties and municipalities were traditionally tightly involved.

Resentment of the system among large reaches of the population had become widespread by the late 1990s, and it is believed that Jörg Haider's criticism of Proporz gained him the support of many centrist voters who were not necessarily supporters of his xenophobic and nationalist rhetoric.

When his then-party, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), joined the government in 2000, many were expecting a discontinuation of the system in all fields except government itself. However, few people today would claim that this has happened. Haider's followers contend that reforms were stymied by the resistance of the FPÖ's coalition partner, the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). His detractors hold that Haider had never had a true reform in mind, but merely endeavored to heave members of his own political disposition into positions of power (a practice referred to as umfärben in German, which roughly translates as 're-coloring').

It is probably fair to say that the major impetus for the rescaling of Austria's system of Proporz was of an external nature. Austria's membership in the European Union reduced the degree to which government is allowed to interfere in private businesses such as telecommunications and banking, where Proporz had been all-pervading.

A diversified media and the possibilities of modern information technology also hold the government to higher standards of transparency and accountability. Above all, there has been a sea change in the public's attitude to the practice and its willingness to confront it.

In conclusion, it can be argued that while they have not altogether vanished from the politics of Austria, the ideas of Proporz are much less pervasive today than they were only a decade ago.