ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the formation of a liberal democratic regime in Portugal since the 1974 military coup. It describes some aspects of the structures of politics, the dynamics of the conflicts concerning them, and the solutions proposed to resolve the Portuguese ‘crisis’. The same administration continues as the Ministry of Administrative Reform in the Second Constitutional Government has had only tactical political significance and has not reformed anything. The combination of the factors concerning unstable politics and new institutions defined in a far-reaching Constitution has created a situation in which the question of a particular government involves a question of the whole regime. The Portuguese political system is very much a hybrid. While government is presumably based on parties in the Assembly of the Republic, in effect the President has extensive powers and he in turn is closely related to the Revolutionary Council.
