Legislative responses to the BVT affair and the Vienna terror attack: Securitisation between structural reforms and symbolic policies

Abstract

In recent years, the Austrian security architecture was shaken heavily and has undergone several changes. In this article, we focus on two events and subsequent legal amendments: In 2018, a police raid was carried out in the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BVT) and in 2020, the Vienna terror attack took place. We focus on two bills that were passed in 2021: The Terror Combat Act and the State Protection and Intelligence Act. We demonstrate how these legal amendments address the organisational restructuring of security agencies to secure their independence on the one hand, while they fit into the bigger picture of securitisation after 9/11 and the ongoing politicisation of Islam on the other.