ABSTRACT
Portugal was one of the first European countries to experience a strong backlash against liberal democracy. By the end of the First World War a reaction against bourgeois liberalism had already gripped many politically aware Portuguese. Inevitably, the country’s rural character, geographical isolation from the rest of Europe, and freedom from pressing territorial grievances meant that the counter-revolutionary challenge followed its own local course. The right in Portugal offered nothing original in the realm of thought or action that could be taken up by fascists elsewhere. Much of its own inspiration derived from France, hardly surprising since modern Portugal has been more profoundly influenced by French cultural norms than any other European country.
