THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- October 18, 2017- Topic 2
New kid on the bloc: On Austria polls
Austria’s early elections on Sunday paid off for Foreign Minister Sebastian
Kurz, who, at 31, is set to become Austria’s Chancellor and the youngest head
of government in Europe. Mr. Kurz, who took the reins of the centre-right
Austrian People’s Party last May, has been called a wunderwuzzi, or
whiz kid, for changing the face and fortunes of his party, till now a junior
partner in the country’s ‘grand coalition’ led by the centre-left Social
Democratic Party (SVP).
Mr. Kurz has called his political party a movement,
which he renamed the New People’s Party, invited newcomers to run for elections
and changed the party’s social media strategy. Initial results give the
People’s Party about 31% of the vote. The far-right Freedom Party (FPO), formed
in the 1950s by former Nazis, has got roughly the same vote share as the SVP,
till now the largest party, in the region of 27%. Two patterns have been
reaffirmed by the latest results. First, voters are responding to younger
contenders and voting them to power, at least in the West; Mr. Kurz is set to
join a list that has the likes of France’s Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Justin
Trudeau, Ireland’s Leo Varadkar, as well as the former leaders of Italy and
Estonia, Matteo Renzi and Taavi Rõivas. Whether there has been a spill-over
effect from the tech world, with its cohort of young leaders, to the political
would be an interesting line of inquiry in the future. What is clear for now,
however, is that Mr. Kurz has used his youth, as did some of his counterparts
in other countries, to attract voters and reinvent a political party. A second
pattern from Sunday’s results is the alarming growth of right-wing populism
across the world and in Europe, including in Germany last month, where the
far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained a foothold in the Bundestag.
The People’s Party could now enter into a coalition with the Freedom Party,
or stick with its old centre-left partner, but this time under Mr. Kurz. The
FPO, which has an anti-Islam and anti-immigrant platform, has capitalised on
the fears of Austrians, many of whom are wary of the influx of migrants into
Europe. The party was at the forefront of the campaign to ban face coverings, a
prohibition that took effect earlier this month. It wants Austria to join the
Visegrád group of central European countries whose non-liberal values are
posing a strain on its relations with western European Union colleagues. Worryingly, Mr.
Kurz took his party further right during the campaign, taking credit for
closing off the Western Balkan refugee route and calling for cuts in welfare
benefits for migrants. While his gamble in calling an early election has paid
off for him, fanning the flames of an exclusionist ideology is unlikely to earn
political dividends in the longer term.
Vocabulary
Rein: check
or guide by pulling on its reins.
Example: He reined in his horse and waited for her
Reaffirm: state
again as a fact; assert again strongly.
Example: The prime minister reaffirmed his commitment to the agreement
Cohort: a
supporter or companion.
Example: How to understand the older generation which supported Hitler and his
cohorts ?
Synonyms: colleague, companion, associate, friend
Reinvent: change
something so much that it appears to be entirely new.
Example: He brought opera to the masses and reinvented the waltz
Foothold: a
place where a person's foot can be lodged to support them securely, especially
while climbing.
Example: Twice she had to stop to rest, her arms trembling with the strain, locking
her feet into semi-secure footholds and leaning into the rock
Immigrant: a
person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
Example: Another theme running through the huge demo was solidarity with refugees
and immigrants .
Synonyms: newcomer, settler, migrant, emigrant, nonnative, foreigner
Influx: an
arrival or entry of large numbers of people or things.
Example: A massive influx of refugees from front-line areas
Synonyms: inundation, rush, stream, flood, incursion, invasion, intrusion
Forefront: the
leading or most important position or place.
Example: We are at the forefront of developments
Synonyms: vanguard, van, spearhead, head, lead, front, fore, front
line
Strain: a
force tending to pull or stretch something to an extreme or damaging degree.
Example: The usual type of chair puts an enormous strain on the spine
Synonyms: tension, tightness, tautness
Refugee: a
person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war,
persecution, or natural disaster.
Example: Tens of thousands of refugees fled their homes
Synonyms: émigré, fugitive, exile, displaced person, asylum
seeker, boat people
Exclusionist: acting to shut out or bar someone from a place, group, or privilege.
Example: An exclusionist foreign policy
