A baby elephant and common sense

An analysis of how crises are managed in Austria, compared to other European countries (notably Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain), based on in-depth qualitative and quantitative studies. The COVID-19 crisis reveals how actors from ministries, government agencies and academia have tried to manage the crisis from their own perspective, creating a public image of astonishing helplessness. * Far-right parties, such as the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), have brilliantly exploited the communication failures of the political establishment. During the anti-vaccination campaign, fascist ideas became part of "normal" discourse, from the concept of the alleged "proper national agency" to outright anti-Semitism. The debate over mandatory vaccination also explains why the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) emerged victorious after the law was repealed in the summer of 2022, and has consistently topped elections and opinion polls ever since. Democratic politicians can learn from their mistakes, and this book will help them do so. Ruth Wodak, linguist and researcher in sociolinguistics and discourse studies, is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Discourse Studies at Lancaster University and Emeritus Professor at the University of Vienna. She has won numerous awards, including the 1996 Wittgenstein Prize.