April 25, 1999 will mark the 25th anniversary of Portugal's
1974
revolution. The military coup which began what is popularly known
as the
'25 de Abril,' overcame twentieth-century Europe's longest lasting
dictatorship and initiated what scholars have called the 'third
wave' of
democratization in the modern world. It marked the end of political
and
artistic censorship, the secret police, and the colonial wars
in Africa; it
freed political prisoners, allowed for the free formation of political
parties and trade unions, and began the transition to a stable
parliamentary democracy firmly rooted in the European Union.
Portuguese
civil society was presented with a political opening as a result
of the
coup, and a broad social revolution promptly ensued. Scholars
from all
over the world suddenly took an interest in the transition to
democracy in
Portugal and the unpredicted militancy of its civil society.
Though the
coup that brought down the regime was not expected, the rapid
recuperation
of Portuguese civil society was not completely unpredictable.
John Hammond
(1979: 257), for example, has pointed out that Portugal resembled
"and even
exceeded many countries which have experienced 'a rapid escalation
in
political participation,' a 'burst of explosive energy' when civic
freedoms
are restored after a long period of repression."
The purpose of our conference and the edited volume is to
use the
25th anniversary of Portugal's political opening as an opportunity
to
reflect on what has happened to state-society relations since
1974.
Scholars will be asked to: 1) identify the basic changes in Portugal's
economy and society that have shaped the context for state-society
relations, 2) describe the emergence of new social movements and
changes in
the relationship between traditional actors in civil society and
their
relationship to the state, and 3) assess the extent to which civil
society
in Portugal is vital and active, and what impact this has on the
"quality"
of Portuguese democracy. The lectures will be in English,
interdisciplinary in nature and comparative in scope. Where possible,
presenters will seek to identify how the changes in Portugal compare
with
those occurring elsewhere in Europe. The goal of the conference
is to
reflect on how far Portuguese civil society has come since 1974,
so as to
better understand where the country is headed at the dawn of the
21st
century. The papers will eventually be published in an edited
volume. The
Center for Portuguese Studies & Culture has already received
a verbal
commitment from Ashgate Press (London) in this regard (see below).
The book will be organized along the following guidelines.
Presently,
several of the individuals have committed verbally to participating
in this
project (those whose names are marked in bold). The others are
names that
we think would fit in nicely, but have yet to be contacted formally.
We
feel that these names provide a nice mixture of senior scholars
of
recognized merit, and junior scholars who are up-and-coming names
in their
respective fields. The volume will also fill an important niche
in the
recent English-language literature, as neither Costa-Pinto's Modern
Portugal (1998), Maxwell's The Making of Portuguese Democracy
(1995),
Bruneau's Political Parties in Portugal (1998), nor Magone's European
Portugal (1997) really cover the topic of new social movements
and
state-society relations in depth. The volume would be aimed at
a scholarly
audience, but every effort will be made to convince Ashgate of
the
advantages of producing an affordable volume, thereby making this
a book
that would be attractive to students as well as libraries. The
titles
below are merely suggestive of the type of themes we are seeking.
I. Introduction/Statement of the Problem
* "Why Civil Society is Important for Democratic Political
Life"-Michael Baum, UMass-Dartmouth
II. Basic Demographic & Economic Changes Shaping the Context
* "Portuguese Demographic Changes, 1974-1999"-- João Peixoto,
Demographer, ISEG
* "Portuguese Economic Development : The Role of the EU's Structural
& Regional Funds in Portugal, 1986-2000"-Antonio Goucha Soares (ISEG)
Summary chapter by Antonio Barreto, editor of Portugal Social,
1960-1995.
III. Civil Society in Portugal 25 Years after the Revolution:
Citizens,
The State, and the EU
* "The Historical Context of State-Society Relations in Portugal: Pre
and Post-25th of April"-- Antonio Costa-Pinto has already agreed to
contribute something on this debate and is coming here in mid-April.
* "The Exercise of Political Citizenship in Portugal"-- Manuel
Villaverde Cabral (ICS)
* Walter Opello (SUNY) has written on the development of the
Portuguese state from a comparative perspective. He has already agreed to
contribute a chapter here describing the development of the "Managerial
State" in Portugal post-1974. This work will follow along the lines of a
book of his coming out this year.
* "The Continuing Relevance of Political Parties in Contemporary
Portuguese Democracy"--Tom Bruneau (U.S. Naval Postgraduate School)
* "Trade Unions and Employers' Associations: Social Concertation in
Contemporary Portugal"-- Alan Stoleroff (ISCTE)
* Cristiana Bastos (ICS) on "Changes in the Rural-Urban Nexus," from
an anthropological perspective
* "The Appearance of New Social Movements (students, farmers,
environmental consciousness?)"-Joaquim Gil Nave (ISCTE)
* "The Changing Role of the Church in Contemporary Portugal"-- Paul
Manuel (St. Anselm College)
* "N.G.O's and the Development of the Portuguese Welfare State"--
Miguel Glatzer (Harvard University)
* "Portuguese Governance Structures from a Historical Perspective"--
Luis Espinha Silveira (UNL), coming here around April 20th.
* "The Impact of New Information Technologies on Portuguese Civil
Society"--Pedro Ferraz de Abreu (MIT)
* "Single-Issue Citizen Interest Groups & Popular Referendums in
Contemporary Portugal: an examination of the 1998 Abortion &
Regionalization Referendums"--Michael Baum (UMass-Dartmouth) & Andre Freire
(ISCTE)
IV. Conclusions
* Kenneth Maxwell has already verbally agreed to serve as the author
of an analysis of the various papers' findings, the lessons learned, etc.
* Boaventura de Sousa Santos has also agreed to participate by giving
a lecture at UMD in mid-November; Hermínio Martins, Larry Graham, and
Phillipe Schmitter are other senior scholars who have published widely in
this area and whose comments and conclusions would be especially valuable.
We would seek to have all of them involved in the Conference as
discussants
and/or presenters, and their comments could be included in a chapter
for
the book as well.
One individual (Prof. Silveira) has already come to UMD this
year to give a
public lecture. Prof. Sousa Santos has verbally agreed to give
a public
lecture around November 20th. The Conference, which will be open
to the
public and students, will take place over the weekend of October
2-3, 1999
and will be held at UMD. Nine invited presenters, organized into
three (3)
separate panels, will be scheduled to give 20 minute summaries
of their
papers in English. The papers will be followed by comments and
criticisms
>from an invited discussant (these would be the senior scholars
like
Barreto, Costa-Pinto, Maxwell, Graham, Martins, or Santos). Following
these, questions will be taken from the floor. These activities
will take
place on Saturday the 2nd, and will include a luncheon and dinner
for the
invited guests. Sunday will be a day for the participants to
explore the
region, and the organizers will provide a day trip to lovely Newport,
Rhode
Island.
The schedule for the 2nd would look something like this:
9:00 - 9:30 a.m.- Coffee and Refreshments
9:30 - 11:00 - Panel 1 and discussion
11:00 -11:15 - Coffee Break
11:15 - 12:45 - Panel 2 and discussion
1:00 - 2:45 - Lunch in Fall River, MA (approx. 15 people)
3:00 - 4:30 p.m. - Panel 3 and discussion
7:00 p.m. - Dinner in New Bedford, MA for the invited guests (approx.
15
people)
Sunday, Sept. 19th:
11:00 a.m. - Trip to Newport, Rhode Island organized by the
Center for
Portuguese Studies & Culture, lunch will be provided by the
Center.