Was there a Portuguese economic corporatism? Political economy, transnational ideas and institutions in Salazar’s New State

The corporatist ideas associated with the dictatorship regime of António de Oliveira Salazar (1932-1968) were prominently expressed through a set of institutions created by the State to promote social order and to govern the economy. This institutional bureaucracy was particularly dense and resilient, as it withstood various social and economic changes, including external shocks. Based on previous historiographical contributions, namely from the history of economic thought, this article explores the interaction established in the Portuguese case between the transnational dissemination of corporatist ideas and the political construction of institutions governing the economy and interests. A critical analysis of the doctrinal rhetoric of Portuguese corporatists, who always exalted the ‘national and specific’ character of Salazar’s corporatism, will help to identify forms of transnational circulation of corporatist economic ideas. More than a political economy of Portuguese corporatism, there was an emulation of foreign authors, especially Italian, and an instrumental adaptation of ideas and institutions

Corporatism · Democracy · Dictatorship · Economic system · Economics · Economy · Historiography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Portuguese · Rhetoric · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History, Culture, and Society · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US