Cultural Patterns of Enlargement: Do Small Central European States Share Common Values?

The ongoing process of Europeanization raises the question of citizen support. Political actors in the relevant states seek to promote the acceptance of civil society for this development. The political bid for consensus building around EU integration and the enlargement process is accompanied by public campaigns. Against this background this paper deals with selected images that figure prominently in these campaigns, using three small EU members of the Central European region – Austria, Hungary and Slovakia – as examples. Starting from the assumption that national and European images used in the respective campaigns refer to underlying cultural patterns as frames of political orientation one may analyse commonalities and differences in the perception of political roles of the respective states in the new Europe

Political Storytelling on Instagram: Key Aspects of Alexander Van der Bellen’s Successful 2016 Presidential Election Campaign

This article addresses the strategic use of Instagram in election campaigns for the office of the Austrian Federal President in 2016. Based on a comprehensive visual analysis of 504 Instagram posts from Green-backed but independent presidential candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, who resulted as winner after almost one year of campaigning, this contribution reconstructs key aspects of digital storytelling on Instagram. By identifying relevant image types central to the self-representation of the candidate, this article shows how a politician makes use of a digital platform in order to project and manage desired images. The salience of image types allows for the reconstruction of underlying visual strategies: (1) the highlighting of the candidate’s biography (biographical strategy), (2) the presentation of his campaign team (team strategy), and (3) the presentation of the candidate as a legitimate office holder (incumbent strategy). The article thus sheds light on visual aspects of digital storytelling as relevant factor of political communication

Familienpolitische Maßnahmen in Österreich, Bulgarien und Ungarn

'Die Familienpolitik Österreichs, Bulgariens und Ungarns orientiert sich vor dem Hintergrund unterschiedlicher sozioökonomischer Rahmenbedingungen und politischer Kulturmuster an primär auf die Familie als Einheit und nicht auf das Individuum ausgerichteten Konzepten. Diese verweisen einzelne Familienmitglieder auf unterschiedliche gesellschaftliche Positionen, tragen zu einer konservativen Restaurierung der Rollen von Frauen und Männern bei und stabilisieren traditionelle Geschlechterhierarchien. Soziale Sparmaßnahmen und die Privatisierung von Dienstleistungen wirken in den Transformationsstaaten, die zusätzlich mit den volkswirtschaftlichen und sozialen Kosten des Systemwechsels konfrontiert sind, noch prekärer als in Österreich. In keinem der drei Staaten sind jedoch sozial- und familienpolitische Rahmenbedingungen für eine Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Familie in ausreichendem Ausmaß gegeben. Unzureichende Versorgung mit öffentlichen Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen ist dabei ein wesentliches strukturelles Hindernis. Familialisierung von Frauen, verbunden mit einer Idealisierung der Mutterrolle und der privaten Kinderbetreuung, ist tendenziell die Folge. Erfahrungen aus unterschiedlichen Staaten zeigen, dass nicht die Höhe der Transferleistungen, sondern die Möglichkeit eines eigenen Erwerbseinkommens für Frauen kombiniert mit qualifizierter öffentlicher Kinderbetreuung sowie partnerschaftlich orientierten Familienmodellen ausschlaggebend für höhere Geburtenzahlen sind. Von Lösungsansätzen, wie sie etwa skandinavische familien- und sozialpolitische Konzepte formulieren, sind Österreich, Bulgarien und Ungarn weit entfernt.' (Autorenreferat)'Family policies in Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary - when viewed against the background of their different socioeconomic framework conditions - are based on concepts that are primarily geared to the family as a unity and not to the individual person. These concepts assign individual family members to different societal positions, contribute to a conservative restoration of the roles of women and men, and stabilize traditional gender hierarchies. Social spending cuts and the privatisation of services are even more precarious in the transformation countries, which are additionally burdened with the economic and social costs of system change, than in Austria. In none of the three countries, though, the social and family policy prerequisites for reconciling job and family obligations are satisfactorily fulfilled. An insufficient supply of public child care facilities is an important structural obstacle in this regard. A familialisation of women, in association with an idealisation of the mother role and private child care, tends to be one of the consequences. It should be noted that experiences from various countries show that it is not the amount of transfer benefits, but the opportunity for women to earn their own income in combination with a qualified public child care scheme and partnership-based family models that account for higher birth rates. Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria are still far away from any such solutions as formulated in Scandinavian family and social policy concepts.' (author's abstract

An eHealth System for Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Based on Accelerometer and Pressure Data

Pressure ulcers are a common skin disease which is associated with pain, reduced autonomy, social isolation, and reduced quality of life. There are several systems for monitoring of pressure ulcer-related risk factors on the market, but up to now no satisfactory solution is available, especially for people with medium pressure ulcer risk. We present a novel pressure ulcer risk assessment and prevention system, which combines the advantages of accelerometer and pressure sensors for monitoring pressure ulcer risk factors. Sensors are used for detection of repositionings of the person lying on the mattress. Sensor data are sent to a tablet where they are analysed and presented graphically. The system was evaluated in a long-term test at the homes of people of the target group. Results indicate that the system is able to detect movements of persons while lying in bed. Weak correlation in between mobility and Braden pressure ulcer risk was found (correlation factor = 0.31). From our data, long-term trends could be visualized as well as 24 h mobility profiles. Such graphical illustrations might be helpful for caregivers in order to optimize care of people with medium to high pressure ulcer risk

25 years later – Austria’s shift to the populist right: national characteristics of a pan-European trend

The year 1995 rather coincidentally tags both the foundation of the Central European Political Science Association and the accedence of Austria, one of its founding members, to the European Union. Austria has particularly benefitted from its membership and the following EU enlargement rounds which also welcomed the other CEPSA members to the club. However, it seems that these advantages have not yet been fully appreciated, neither by a significant part of the political elite nor by the majority of the Austrian population. Increasing Euroscepticism and EU bashing can be observed during the last two and a half decades. The rise of the populist far-right, EU-hostile Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) was simultaneous. Of course, the political success of right-wing populism in combination with strong Euroscepticism has become a pan-European phenomenon since at least the last two decades. It is certainly not purely an Austrian phenomenon. Nevertheless, one can observe national differences. Since a systematic comparison of the development of right-wing populist patterns and related political trends between Austria and other CEPSA member countries would go beyond the scope of this essay, the focus of the paper is on relevant Austrian characteristics pertinent to this phenomenon

Visuelle Repräsentationen antipluralistischer Politik am Beispiel der Islam- und Muslimenfeindlichkeit

(VLID)465397

Visuelle Politik: Perspektiven eines politikwissenschaftlichen Forschungsbereichs

(VLID)456531

Political Storytelling on Instagram: Key Aspects of Alexander Van der Bellen’s Successful 2016 Presidential Election Campaign

This article addresses the strategic use of Instagram in election campaigns for the office of the Austrian Federal President in 2016. Based on a comprehensive visual analysis of 504 Instagram posts from Green-backed but independent presidential candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, who resulted as winner after almost one year of campaigning, this contribution reconstructs key aspects of digital storytelling on Instagram. By identifying relevant image types central to the self-representation of the candidate, this article shows how a politician makes use of a digital platform in order to project and manage desired images. The salience of image types allows for the reconstruction of underlying visual strategies: (1) the highlighting of the candidate’s biography (biographical strategy), (2) the presentation of his campaign team (team strategy), and (3) the presentation of the candidate as a legitimate office holder (incumbent strategy). The article thus sheds light on visual aspects of digital storytelling as relevant factor of political communication.© The author(s