Austria Archive Site for State Department information prior to January 20, 2001. This site is not updated. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, January 30, 1997.
Citizens choose their representatives in periodic, free, and fair multiparty elections.
The police are subordinated to the executive and judicial authorities. The national police maintain internal security. The army is responsible for external security. Austria's highly developed, market-based economy, with its mix of technologically advanced industry, modern agriculture, and tourism affords its citizens a high standard of living. The Government fully respected the human rights of its citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing with instances of individual abuse.