Militares e intervenção política: Correntes ideológicas e contextos de época

• Main Author: João Freire
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra 2009-09-01
• Series: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: the military; political power; military culture; armed intervention
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rccs/189

This article analyses the development of relationships between military bodies and political power in Portugal, from the time of the 19th century liberal monarchy until the end of the 20th century. In particular, it offers an interpretation of the impact on military culture of the diffusion of constitutionalist, republican, nationalist and socialist ideologies and the norms guiding the attitudes and actions of military elites within the political arena, in the light of their professional experience of war (the African campaigns, the First World War and the colonial war of 1961-74) and the observed behaviour of the working classes recruited for these missions, in comparison with the courses adopted by successive governments and political regimes. The international context is also established, both with regard to dominant ideologies and the framework of established strategic interests.