Nested Newness and Critical Junctures: Quota Implementation Flaws in the Austrian Party Democracy

Abstract

100 years after the introduction of women’s suffrage in Austria the representation of women in the national parliament still exhibits a substantial gender gap, although it has certainly improved over the last decades. Three parties, the Greens, Social Democrats (SPÖ), and Christian conservatives (ÖVP) have instituted party quotas. However, the share of women in the national parliament most of the time does not reflect the intention of the quotas. The SPÖ and ÖVP did not meet their quota stipulations until national elections in 2017, despite Austria’s proportional electoral system which should potentially promote women’s representation in legislature. Amending existing literatures that focus primarily on recruitment practices and on individual coping mechanisms with time- and energy-intensive engagement in political parties, we underscore the relevance of institutional, political, and cultural factors that inhibit the implementation of party quotas, such as the bending and stretching of election laws, the three-tiered electoral system with small-size electoral districts and the parties’ strategies of designing electoral lists (which lead to a nested newness of quotas and their unsuccessful implementation). Our contribution also focuses on critical junctures (public critique of the “old parties” SPÖ and ÖVP, challenge by the right-wing FPÖ) that spur a successful implementation of the party quota.