Austria is afederal republic consisting of ninestates.[a] TheEuropean Commission calls themprovinces.[1] Austrian states can pass laws that stay within the limits of the constitution, and each state has representatives in the Austrian federal parliament.
The majority of the land area in the states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna, and Burgenland is situated in theDanube valley and thus consists almost completely of accessible and easily arable terrain. Austria's most densely populated state is Vienna, the heart of what is Austria's onlymetropolitan area. Lower Austria ranks only fourth in population density even though it contains Vienna's suburbs; this is due to large areas of land being predominantly agricultural. The alpine state Tyrol, the less alpine but geographically more remote state Carinthia, and the non-alpine but near-exclusively agricultural state Burgenland are Austria's least densely populated states. The wealthy alpine state Vorarlberg is something of an anomaly due to its small size, isolated location and distinctAlemannic culture.[citation needed]
Each Austrian state has an electedlegislature, thestate parliament, and a state government (Landesregierung) headed by a governor (Landeshauptmann orLandeshauptfrau). Elections are held every five years (six years inUpper Austria). The state constitution, among other things, determines how the seats in the state government are assigned to political parties, with most states having a system of proportional representation based on the number of delegates in thestate parliament in place. Thegovernor is elected by thestate parliament, though in practice the governor is the leader of the majority party or coalition in thestate parliament.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, plays a double role as a city and state. The mayor has the rank of a state governor, while thecity council also functions as a state parliament. Under the municipal constitution, however, city and state business must be kept separate. Hence, while the city council and thestate parliament have identical memberships, they hold separate meetings, and each body has separate presiding officers. When meeting as a city council, the deputies can only deal with city affairs; when meeting as astate parliament, they can only deal with affairs of the state.
Austrianfederalism is largely theoretical, as the states are granted few legislative powers. Austria's constitution initially granted all legislative powers to the states, but many powers have been subsequently taken away,[2] and only a few remain, such as planning and zoning codes, nature protection, hunting, fishing, farming, youth protection, certain issues of public health and welfare and the right to levy certain taxes.
All other matters, including but not limited to criminal law, civil law, corporate law, most aspects of economic law, defense, most educational matters and academia, telecommunications, and much of the healthcare system are regulated by national law. There is also nojudiciary of the federal states, since Austria's constitution defines the judiciary as an exclusively national matter. This centralisation follows a historic model where central power during the time of the empire was largely concentrated in Vienna.
However, the state governor (Landeshauptmann) is in charge of the administration of much of federal administrative law within the respective province, which makes this post an important political position. Furthermore, state competences include zoning laws, planning issues and public procurement on the regional level, which adds considerable weight to state politics. As a practical matter, there have been cases where states have been able to delay projects endorsed by the national government, as in the case of theSemmering Base Tunnel, a railway tunnel being built under theSemmering.[citation needed]
Austrian states are formally and practically endowed with a much smaller degree of autonomy thanAmerican states orGerman lands. Even so, Austrians tend to identify passionately with their respective state and often defend what little independent governance their state has. It is not unheard of for Austrians to consider themselves, for instance,Tyrolean first, Austrian second.[citation needed]
In terms of boundaries, the present-day states arose from thecrown lands ofAustria-Hungary, an extensive multiethnic realm whose German-speaking nucleus emerged as the Republic of Austria after the dissolution of the Dual Monarchy in the end ofWorld War I.
The states of Upper Austria and Lower Austria are essentially equivalent to what were the two halves of theArchduchy of Austria, a principality which formed the empire's historic heartland. Salzburg is coterminous with the former Austro-HungarianDuchy of Salzburg (the formerArchbishopric). Similarly, the state of Carinthia descends from theDuchy of Carinthia, the state of Styria descends from theDuchy of Styria, and the state of Tyrol descends from thePrincely County of Tyrol; these three states had to cede territories toCzechoslovakia,Italy, andYugoslavia when Austria emerged in its present form. The state ofVorarlberg is made up of territories acquired by theHouse of Habsburg in the 14th and 15th centuries,[3]: 73 and was a semi-autonomous part of the County of Tyrol from 1861.
For the purpose of the above list, acity is a community defined to be a city by Austrian law, and a town is a community not defined to be a city. Many of Austria's cities have population figures on the order of 10,000 inhabitants; some are even smaller.
States in which the ÖVP is involved in the state government as a head coalition partner (black), as a small coalition partner (dark grey) and in which the ÖVP is represented in the state parliament as an opposition party (light grey)
States in which the SPÖ is involved in the state government as a head coalition partner (dark red), as a small coalition partner (medium red) and in which the SPÖ is represented in the state parliament as an opposition party (light red)
States in which the FPÖ is involved in the state government as a small coalition partner (dark blue) and in which the FPÖ is represented in the state parliament as an opposition party (light blue)
States in which the Greens are involved in the state government as a small coalition partner (dark green) and in which the Green are represented in the state parliament as an opposition party (light green)
States in which the KPÖ is represented in the state parliament as an opposition party (light red)
^Directorate-General for Translation (July 2023)."Country Compendium"(PDF). European Commission. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 18 November 2023. Retrieved24 September 2023.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
