Sinn von Sein. Foreign Policy, Memory and Changing Imaginaries and Practices of Neutrality in the Second Republic

Authors

  • Cornelia Baciu University of Copenhagen Department of Political Science Center for Military Studies Øster Farimagsgade 5 1353 København K www.politicalscience.ku.dk

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15203/ozp.4072.vol51iss4

Abstract

This article unpacks the meaning of permanent neutrality in Austrian foreign policy from a collective memory perspective understood as remembrance of the past and expression of the country’s ontological condition (Sinn von Sein). I argue, first, that while neutrality has remained formally a backbone of foreign and security policy, in practice, it changed its meaning to incorporate a more active role in multilateral institutions. Second, I demonstrate how this can be related to collective memory and changing imaginaries and role conceptions, showing how Austria’s Sonderweg emerges from a normative global ambition to contribute to a more positive understanding of order.

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Published

2023-01-05