ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the first phase of the process of regime change; that is, the collapse of the New State. It explains why the New State, which seemed so monolithic, impenetrable and otherwise impervious to change on the eve of the golpe, collapsed like a house of cards. The ability of an authoritarian regime to mobilize support and rally its citizenry behind certain policies depends upon the degree to which the elite has resolved the participation crisis in an institutionalized way. The year 1933 was the most important year for the instauration of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar's corporatist regime. Portuguese corporatism is eclectic in philosophical background and draws upon the works of Utopian socialism and Catholic reformism. Salazar failed to complete and institutionalize the New State's corporative infrastructure for several reasons: resistance within the broader civil society to reorganization into corporative political mediating structures and historical events which diverted scarce resources and Salazar's attention away from the task of institutionalization.
