ABSTRACT
The revolution which swept across Portugal in 1974 destroyed the old order. It left a badly divided country and considerable institutional disarray that precluded any form of elite agreement as a sufficient base on which to build a new regime. Portugal's transition from the fluidity of the revolutionary situation surrounding the breakdown of institutionalized authoritarian rule in 1974, to the stability of a fully consolidated democracy in 1990, took fifteen years. Accommodation took place first through agreement among the leaders that substantive legislation and control of the budget would be the exclusive domain of the Government. In the Portuguese case, institutionalizing democratic procedures has proven to be the most effective way to overcome past differences and to avoid repeating a history of factionalism, military insubordination, economic instability, social conflict, and recourse to authoritarianism. What has been taking place in Portugal since 1976 is a sequence of partial settlements.
