Breaking with the authoritarian past in Portugal: continuities and discontinuities of international linkages and their impact on the political system

This article<fn id="p1-f1" symbol="*">

This article is derived from a paper that was presented to the CPHRC's Second International Conference, The Estado Novo: the final years', Paris, 27–28 September 2002.</fn> seeks to delineate the interactive relationship between the European Union and the establishment of a Portuguese democracy that was itself shaped by processes that had already begun during the 1960s. In the first section we will discuss the relationship between the authoritarian regime and the European Union. The second section discusses how the European Union shaped the outcome of the revolutionary process. The third section explains why it took so long for Portugal to become a member of the European Community. The fourth section discusses Portugal's integration into the European Union and how it gained the self-confidence with which to shape European policy-making.