This Tuesday marks 49 years since the revolution ended the dictatorship in Portugal and, despite major or minor setbacks, who analyzes the Portuguese reality sees it as “a successful case”. This is the case of Sheri Berman, a professor at Columbia University and a researcher on democracies. Last Thursday, the American academic was in Lisbon for the conference “Five decades of democracy, what has changed?”, organized by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, in Quartel do Carmo, in Lisbon, on the occasion of April 25, and where Sheri Berman took part in a debate together with another American political scientist, Daniel Ziblatt.
“Although the experience was somewhat contentious and difficult, it is certain that Portugal has had a Republic before and that is remarkable.”
In conversation with DN before the start of the event, the researcher analyzed the Portuguese democratic transition, which is a success story for her. “Portugal is a very important case. Firstly, because it partly initiated the wave of European democratization at the end of the 20th century. Moreover, it is a case of successful democratization”, analyzes Sheri Berman. Compared to countries that are currently “struggling with new democracies”, Portugal – and even Spain – are examples that should be taken into account, the researcher believes. This is because it justifies both “These are countries that have made the regime transition after decades of dictatorship and have been very successful not only in building strong democracies, but also in keeping local societies relatively united and citizens relatively satisfied. That’s why they manage to be healthy democracies, with a stable economy.” Portugal is therefore “an important case” for those who study these issues.
Several factors contributed to this success, says Sheri Berman, but the researcher highlights one in particular, as a first example: the presence in the European Union [Portugal tornou-se Estado-membro em 1986, menos de 12 anos depois do 25 de Abril]. That’s part of the explanation, But “there are other important variables” in this equation, not least because there are Member States (“such as Hungary and Poland”, he says) that show that presence in the European space is not everything. “In addition, there are other important matters. these countries [Portugal e Espanha] in particular, they are countries that have experienced relatively high growth rates since the dictatorship, with societies that have changed a lot during this period. Deep inside, the combination of domestic conditions with regional conditions seems to have played an important role in the success of the democratization project”, explains the researcher.
“We should not think that Portugal is about to become Hungary, because it is not.”
In this particular case, the past should not be forgotten, says Sheri Berman. Although full democratization in Portugal did not take place until 1974, the country had had a republican experience before (between 1910 and 1926), which preceded the military dictatorship. “The past matters. The game of democracy, so to speak, did not begin, in the Portuguese case, until 1974. Although the experience was somewhat contentious and difficult, it is certain that Portugal had a Republic before and that is remarkable,” he says, before giving an example: “We look at Eastern Europe and we have countries like Poland, which was first colonized and then terrorized by Nazis and Communists. Despite everything, these contexts had much more repressive dictatorships, nor did they have a great history of independence, let alone democracy. Therefore, Portugal began to overcome the democratic process with much less burden than these countries. And it ultimately matters.”.
And the future?
“I’m not too worried,” confesses Sheri Berman when asked about the future of Portuguese and European democracy. Apart from Italy – “a relatively problematic case – and Spain, which has “complicated problems”, the researcher looks hopefully at the short and medium term.
“Portugal and Spain are countries that have made the regime transition after decades of dictatorship and have been very successful.”
“I think it will be a while before we see strong and consolidated democracies in Eastern Europe. But, as I said, I’m not too concerned about democracy in Western Europe and Southern Europe, at least in the short term and medium term. This means that we must be vigilant, but not fall into the trap of thinking that Portugal is about to become Hungary, because it is not,” he concluded.
Source: DN
