A Little Elephant and Common Sense

This book analyzes how Austria has managed crises compared to other European countries (particularly Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain), based on in-depth qualitative and quantitative studies.

The COVID-19 crisis reveals how various actors from ministries, government agencies, and academia attempted to manage the crisis from their own perspectives, creating a public image of staggering incompetence.

Far-right parties, such as the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), skillfully exploited the political establishment’s communication failures. During the anti-vaccination campaign, fascist ideas became part of the “normal” discourse, ranging from the concept of a supposedly “healthy national body” to outright antisemitism. The controversy surrounding mandatory vaccination also explains why the FPÖ emerged victorious from the crisis after the law was repealed in the summer of 2022, and why it has consistently led in elections and opinion polls ever since.

Democratic politicians can learn from their mistakes, and this book will help them do so.

She has received numerous awards, including the 1996 Wittgenstein Prize. Markus Reindorf is a special lecturer in applied linguistics at the University of Vienna. He has completed several research residencies and fellowships, including at the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis and the International Centre for Research in Cultural Studies.