Preface

1In the historical profession today diplomatic history and foreign relations are not considered sexy and fashionable topics. Many colleagues think this is a hidebound field. Young colleagues engage in cultural studies, the history of emotions, and continue to show great interest in social history and the history of minorities. Political history does not attract young scholars much either. Yet the need to assess a nation’s foreign relations persists. In the past quarter century we have moved from the Cold War to the Post-Cold War era in Austria, Europe and the world at large. Yet relatively little assessment is available what the change from the Cold War to the Post-Cold War era signaled for Austria’s position in the world. Austrian foreign policy went through sea changes. The country lost its exposed Cold War geopolitical location on the margins of Western Europe along the iron curtain. With the removal of the iron curtain Austria moved back into its central location in Europe