Carnation Revolution Essay

Prior to the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, Portugal’s experience with democracy had not been particularly successful so it is fair to wonder. Its First Republic lasted from 1910 to 1926 before the May 1926 coup d’état occurred. The Ditadora Nacional followed soon after by the Estado Novo, which was greatly inspired by conservative and authoritarian ideologies, was developed by António de Oliveira Salazar, ruler of Portugal from 1932 to 1968.

The aim of this research paper is to examine why Portugal did not fall back into fascism or embrace Communism but rather, whole-heartedly adopted democracy.

The Portuguese revolution is regularly glossed over in historical accounts of democracy and regime change. Why would the transition to democracy in a European nation be rendered almost insignificant? Firstly, the Portuguese experience was qualitatively different from many other regime changes precisely because the transition in Portugal acquired many of the characteristics of a revolution. In some senses, what occurred after was not only a process of establishing democracy, but the process of producing a revolution that was tame. The Portuguese upheaval did not turn the world upside down or shake things up, though for several months in 1975 Portugal recaptured the euphoria that often comes with revolutions albeit with little bloodshed. It was precisely because of the relative absence of bloodletting that the Portuguese revolution has tended to be subject to relative amnesia in the history books.

As with any revolution, it is difficult to retrospectively recapture the brief interlude of euphoria experienced especially in that moment when anything and everything seemed possible.

There are certainly structural constraints in ...

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...nce, but in the negotiations conducted with George Kenna, chargé d’affaires in Lisbon, Salazar obtained a critical quid pro quo from Washington, which committed the United States to respect the territorial integrity of Portuguese colonies in return for access to the Azores facilities. This concession was the first significant breach in the US anticolonial position, which subsequently became the starting point for many of the problems that would limit US policy toward Portugal and Portuguese Africa thereafter. Salazar deeply distrusted the growing US role in international affairs and was intent on curbing it with regard to Portuguese interests.

The second period of the possibility of change occurred between 1958 and 1962.

The third window of opportunity occurred between 1968 and 1971 shortly after Salazar’s incapacitation and the installation of Marcello Caetano.