Aftereffects of an 'Exemplary Decolonization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10073750 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Harsgor (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 143-167 |
| Publication date | 1980-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/002200948001500110 |
| OpenAlex | W2083419700 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 3 |
From the fifteenth century, the Portuguese state was conceived by its rulers as extending de aquem e alem mar' from this side to the other side of the sea. After the 'Carnation Revolution' of 25 April 1974 which heralded the liquidation of the semi-millenary colonial empire, the Portuguese suddenly found themselves in an unbelievable situation: a Portugal shorn of its Ultramar the overseas 'provinces'. Could it still be identified with the familiar image of the country every Portuguese was supposed to have ingrained in his heart, from his earliest school days? For some it could not. The bishop of Funchal, Francisco Antunes Santana, still felt the necessity, as late as 1978, of criticizing those who refused to recognize that their true country was the 'medieval quadrilateral' of European Portugal.2 These melancholy conservatives, however, the people preached at with such episcopal sarcasm, went on nostalgically repeating that no Portugal was possible without its lost Empire. A former foreign affairs minister of Salazar mentioned in his memoirs how his redoutable master was dominated by a nearly superstitious Weltanschanug according to which Portugal had always been punished after trying to mingle in European affairs: only colonial politics constituted a safe ground for Lisbon's initiatives.3 For middle-of-the-road liberals the end of Portuguese colonialism had been achieved in a manner too reminiscent of the much discarded policy itself. According to a contemporary historian, Manuel de Lucena, the hallowed Carnation Revolution had been essentially a colonial operation: the brightest elements of the army, in process of losing the Ultramar, had decided to conquer the metropolis itself as if it had been the one last colony left to be overwhelmed.4 The clumsy post-revolutionary attempts at mass
Ancient history · Art history · Colonialism · Decolonization · Economic history · Empire · Fifteenth · Memoir · Political science · Politics · Portuguese · State (computer science · Historical Education and Society · History · History, Culture, and Society · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.6 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |