Political Resonance in Austria's Coronavirus Crisis Management

This paper explains the surprising competence and effectiveness of the Austrian government’s initial crisis-response and the distortions and inequity of its subsequent exit strategy and social support measures. We can make sense of the mixed record of Austrian Corona-management with reference to the same factor, namely political resonance. Crisis response measures are politically feasible and command compliance if they are politically resonant, that is, familiar and plausible top some extent. Familiarity and plausibility are greater where emergency measures draw on older ideas. Procedurally this means that Austria’s initial crisis management could depend on norms of collaboration ingrained in the institutions of consensus democracy. Substantively, though, the familiar and plausible policies of Austrian social protection are full of privilege and exclusion. Political resonance and the ability to respond to the Covid-19 crisis resolutely and effectively, therefore, came at a price and this is a distinct measure of conservatism and inequality in the social policy measures designed to support people who are adversely affected by the crisis.