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Political integration of ‘lusophone’ non-national citizens in Portugal: perceptions of key political actors
- Source: Portuguese Journal of Social Science, Volume 2, Issue 3, Dec 2004, p. 133 - 148
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- 01 Dec 2004
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Abstract
Based upon research conducted between 2001 and 2003, this text explores the perceptions of key political actors in regard to the political integration of non-national citizens in Portugal, wondering about their sensitivity to the idea of stimulating a post-national attitude in this society. It concludes that political actors tend to recognize the existence of an incipient participatory dynamic between democracy and non-national residents. However, positions diverge about the relevance that such incipience must be given in the evaluation of Portuguese democracy's health, denouncing the existence of a tension between a conservative line of thought that perceives citizenship within the traditional nation-state's paradigm, and a progressive line that perceives it beyond the constraints of national membership. There persists also a counterproductive bluriness about the citizen as a non-national and the citizen as a member of an ethnic community - a problem particularly evident in the analysis of the ‘lusophone’ case.