Summary in English

The Austrian army, although controversial since its
reinstruction in 1955, has provoked little discussion
about its fundamental worth among either the general
or academicians. Discussion, instead, has centered on
annual expanses in the national budget for the army.
The army has had no strong support in the public, evi-
denced, for example, by a campain against its existance
at the beginning of the 1970s. Even the revision of the
defense system towards a territorial defense with a
militia-like system has drawn little debate amon social
scientists. Therefore, dealing with Austrian defense
policy from a political science perspective seemed to
require a more general overview.

The four main topics are seen in todays military defense
system and its development, the concept of Civilian
Defense, the proposal of a "mixed" defense consisting
of non-military and non-violent means linked with the
Austrian army and main factors determining Austrian
defense, such as the Austrian doctrine of international
law concerning the policy of neutrality and Austrian
regulation of conscientious objectors.

Summing up the results, there is a need for dettailed
research in most of the mentioned problems of non-
military and military areas of Austrian defense policy.
In particular, the search for a mixed defense raises
a lot of problems which need further attention. Taking
this into account, the dissertation doesn´ claim to
singlehandedly solve the problems of defense policy in
Austria. Rather, it has raised the central questions,
hoping to stimulate further research among social
scientists and to encourage scientific beards to support
such work.