Joerg Haider in historical perspective

During February 2000 the members of HABSBURG engaged in an extensive discussion of Joerg Haider in historical perspective.  Because these discussions, like the 1999 discussion "Kosovo, Serbian Nationalism and Territorial Partition," offer the reader an opportunity to examine the ways historians (and other specialists) examine a contemporary topic, we have compiled them here for those interested in revisiting this debate.  Several of our members have used the Kosovo discussion with great success as a teaching tool [sample] and we expect that this discussion of Haider will likewise find its way into courses on Central Europe.

Each message posted to the discussion is linked forward to the next message and back to the previous message. Unlike our discussion logs, whenever the author of a message makes reference to an earlier message, a link has been inserted to facilitate recursive examination of the relevant message.  In addition to the various contributions to the discussion, two essays are posted here--one by HABSBURG Editorial Board member Lonnie Johnson which became an important focus in our debate of Haider, and one by Professor Melanie A. Sully, Professor of Political Science at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, who kindly has given us permission to reprint it here.