Kasimir Felix, count of Badeni

Kasimir Felix, count of Badeni (born October 14, 1846, Surochów, Galicia—died July 9, 1909, near Krasne) was a Polish-born statesman in the Austrian service, who, as prime minister (1895–97) of the Austrian half of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, sponsored policies to appease Slav nationalism within the empire but was defeated by German nationalist reaction.

After studying law at the University of Kraków, Badeni, one of the richest Galician landowners, entered the ministry of the interior in 1866. He became governor of Kraków in 1879 and was appointed governor of Galicia (Austrian Poland) in 1888, where he acquired the reputation of a tough administrator. He was appointed prime minister and minister of the interior for the Austrian half of Austria-Hungary in 1895 on the recommendation of the army.

Badeni’s appointment as the head of government occurred at a critical time. Tax reform, settlement of the German-Czech language dispute in Bohemia and Moravia, and reform of the suffrage laws could no longer be postponed, and the Ausgleich (Compromise) with Hungary of 1867 was soon to come under its decennial review. He opposed all extreme nationalism such as that of the anti-Semite Karl Lueger. On Badeni’s advice the emperor Franz Joseph three times refused to confirm the election of Lueger as chief burgomaster of Vienna.

In May 1896 Badeni brought about a suffrage reform which added a fifth category of electors consisting of all men over 24 years old who paid at least five gulden in tax. The Young Czechs, the Croats, and the Social Democrats benefited most from the new voting structure, and to further conciliate the Young Czech party Badeni in April 1897 elevated Czech to the status of an administrative language in Bohemia and Moravia. This provoked intense opposition from the German minority parties, especially from Georg Schönerer’s faction (to which Lueger belonged), and in June 1897 Badeni prorogued the Reichsrat. But the Reichsrat had to be reconvened in September to review the Hungarian Ausgleich, and Badeni enacted new standing orders (the Falkenhayn laws) in an effort to restore order to that legislative body. This move further aggravated the situation as libertarian Social Democrats, denouncing the arbitrary legislation, now joined the German nationalists in opposition. Badeni’s expulsion of some obstreperous deputies from the Reichsrat under the Falkenhayn ordinances (November 26–27, 1897) triggered noisier protests in the Reichsrat and mass demonstrations in the streets of Vienna. Lueger, whose fourth election to the burgomastership had been confirmed by the emperor, demanded Badeni’s resignation, warning that unless constitutional procedures were restored, there might be revolution in Vienna. Unabated disorder prompted Badeni’s resignation on November 28, 1897.