Abstract
Unlike in other Central European countries, the term Kulturkampf (culture war) is not new in Austria's contemporary politics. It has been in frequent use since the 1980s together with another concept, Bürgerkrieg (civil war).
The terms reflect both the recent populist hostility towards Islam and an older legacy of political polarization that has accompanied Austria since its foundation. The Republic of Austria began as a fragile and divided rump state in 1918.
The right-left polarization turned into a violent civil war in the 1930s and was put off only after the end of World War II and the Austrians' post-war choice of stability and consensual politics. Yet, since the 1980s,three new waves of political confrontation have marked Austrian politics: World War II revisionists and ecologists rocked the happy Austrian stability in the 1990s, right-wing populism dominated the early 2000s and, finally, neo-nationalists renewed populist right-wing politics between 2013 and 2020.