This book examines the involvement of Portugal in the European integration process since the country signed the Accession Treaty in 1985. The volume elicits how Portugal has grasped opportunities and challenges emanating from its participation in the institutional, regulatory and political frameworks of the European Union (EU), as these have become more intricate as well as intrusive. It scrutinizes the adjustments and transformations that have taken place in Portuguese society, politics and economics as well as in the country’s international relations, as engendered by its increasing enmeshment in the Community-building dynamics. It is divided into three main parts: • Part I focuses on the major changes within the domestic arena, notably on the political, economic and social fronts; • Part II addresses the adjustments that the Portuguese leadership had to make in order to secure the country's participation in key common policies and strategies; • Part III is centred on foreign policy and assesses and discusses the impact upon Portugal’s international relations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, EU studies, comparative politics and those with a strong interest in Portugal.

This publication provides an up-to-date assessment of the political and economic issues and is valuable reading for anyone wishing to understand contemporary Spain and Portugal. Following decades of relative isolation under authoritarian regimes, the success of the processes of democratic transition in both countries paved the way for full membership in the European Community in 1986. Drawing on research by established scholars, Spain and Portugal in the European Union offers an original series of analyses of the development of Iberian politics, sociology and economics since the accession to the European Union.

Driven primarily by political concerns to secure democracy, Portugal's accession to the EU in 1986 also served as a catalyst for dynamic economic development following a complex process of democratization and the decolonization of Europe's last empire. This book analyses how the European Union has helped shape the political process in Portugal on key institutions, elites, and its citizen's attitudes.

Portugal is an established member of the European Union, one of the founders of the euro currency and a founder member of NATO. Yet it is an inconspicuous and largely overlooked country on the continent's south-west rim. In the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Age of Discovery the Portuguese led Europe out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic and they brought Asia and Europe together. Evidence of their one-time four-continent empire can still be felt, not least in the Portuguese language which is spoken by more than 220 million people from Brazil, across parts of Africa to Asia. Analyzing present-day society and culture, The Portuguese also considers the nation's often tumultuous past. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was one of Europe’s greatest natural disasters, strongly influencing continental thought and heralding Portugal’s extended decline. The Portuguese also weathered Europe’s longest dictatorship under twentieth-century ruler António Salazar. A 1974 military coup, called the Carnation Revolution, placed the Portuguese at the centre of Cold War attentions. Portugal’s quirky relationship with Spain, and with its oldest ally England, is also scrutinized. Portugal, which claims Europe’s oldest fixed borders, measures just 561 by 218 kilometres . Within that space, however, it offers a patchwork of widely differing and beautiful landscapes. With an easygoing and seductive lifestyle expressed most fully in their love of food, the Portuguese also have an anarchical streak evident in many facets of contemporary life. A veteran journalist and commentator on Portugal, the author paints an intimate portrait of a fascinating and at times contradictory country and its people.

This book for children (roughly 9 to 12 years old) gives an overview of Europe and explains briefly what the European Union is and how it works.--Publisher's description.

In many European countries, the process of financialisation has been exacerbated by the project of closer EU integration and accelerated as a result of austerity policies introduced after the Euro crisis of 2010–2012. However, the impact has been felt differently in core and peripheral countries. This book examines the case of Portugal, and in particular the impact on its economy, work and social reproduction. The book examines the recent evolution of the Portuguese economy, of particular sectors and systems of social provision (including finance, housing and water), labour relations and income distribution. In doing so, it offers a comprehensive critical analysis of varied aspects of capital accumulation and social reproduction in the country, which are crucial to understand the effects of the official ‘bail-out’ of 2011 and associated austerity adjustment program. The book shows how these have increasingly relied on deteriorating pay and working conditions and households’ direct and indirect engagement with the global financial system in new domains of social reproduction. Through its exploration of the Portuguese case, the book presents a general theoretical and methodological framework for the analysis of financialisation processes in peripheral countries. This text is essential reading for students and scholars of political economy, development, geography, international relations and sociology with an interest in examining the uneven mechanisms and impacts of global finance.

This open access book offers a comparative overview on Portuguese emigration in Europe and outside the EU in times of recession. It looks at Portuguese emigrants who, after the crisis of 2008, moved both intra-EU, such as UK, France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain, but also into countries with historical links, such as the USA and Canada, and to Portuguese speaking countries such as Brazil, Angola and Mozambique, as well as the processes of return. In addition to the dynamics of movement, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the heterogeneity of this emigration. It deepens the multifaceted identities concerning social and professional pathways among highly skilled and less skilled emigrants. The labour market continues to be the main regulatory force of Portuguese emigration, which helps to explain the outflow and the processes of settlement and return. Nonetheless, this book demonstrates that non-economic factors have likewise been of great importance in the decision to emigrate. As such this book will be a valuable read to policy makers, students and scholars in migration.

"After decades of isolation and a turbulent transition to democracy, Portugal's integration into the European Union has given political, economic, social, and cultural stability to a country that had to overcome the trauma of losing an empire. This volume clearly is a major contribution to the study of how Portugal became part of the European Union as a political system and its development towards Europeanization and domestication.Magone first lays a theoretical framework for the study of Europeanization and discusses political parties, the political system, and Portuguese society in terms of Europeanization. He then examines public administration, how the European Union and the OECD impacted on the modernization agenda, and includes a discussion of the national EU policy coordination. Magone also considers the Portuguese Euro-elite and how they interacted with the Portuguese presidency and the processes of decision-making going on among the different levels of the governance system of the European Union. He highlights a case study of the Portuguese presidency of the European Union, which took place in the first half of 2003. In addition, Magone discusses the impact of the EU structural funds on Portugal, and scrutinizes Portuguese foreign and defense policies, in particular its reconstructed foreign policy, which was clearly instrumental in achieving the independence of East Timor. He reviews the growing integration of Portugal into the emerging structures of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), concluding with the challenges that Portugal will face in the future in the education, health, and business sectors.An interesting finding is the growing alienation of the population from the political class, who clearly make all the decisions in relation to the European Union without proper consultation of the population through referenda. In sum, this book is vital to understand one of the oldest nation-states of the world.JosÚ M. Magone is senior lecturer"

This open access book discusses financial crisis management and policy in Europe and Latin America, with a special focus on equity and democracy. Based on a three-year research project by the Jean Monnet Network, this volume takes an interdisciplinary, comparative approach, analyzing both the role and impact of the EU and regional organizations in Latin America on crisis management as well as the consequences of crisis on the process of European integration and on Latin America’s regionalism. The book begins with a theoretical introduction, exploring the effects of the paradigm change on economic policies in Europe and in Latin America and analyzing key systemic aspects of the unsustainability of the present economic system explaining the global crises and their interconnections. The following chapters are divided into sections. The second section explores aspects of regional governance and how the economic and financial crises were managed on a macro level in Europe and Latin America. The third and fourth sections use case studies to drill down to the impact of the crises at the national and regional levels, including the emergence of political polarization and rise in populism in both areas. The last section presents proposals for reform, including the transition from finance capitalism to a sustainable real capitalism in both regions and at the inter-regional level of EU-LAC relations.The volume concludes with an epilogue on financial crises, regionalism, and domestic adjustment by Loukas Tsoukalis, President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Written by an international network of academics, practitioners and policy advisors, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students interested in macroeconomics, comparative regionalism, democracy, and financial crisis management as well as politicians, policy advisors, and members of national and regional organizations in the EU and Latin America.

Europe is in crisis, but the European Union just gets stronger. Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland have all been told that they must submit their budgets to EU-appointed bureaucrats. The 'soft coup' that put EU officials in charge of Greece and Italy shows that the Union is opposed to democracy. Instead of weakening the European Union, the budget crisis of 2012 has ended up with the eurocrats grabbing new powers to dictate terms. Over the years the forward march of the European Union has been widely misunderstood. James Heartfield explains that the rise of the EU is driven by the decline in political participation. Without political contestation national parliaments have become an empty shell. Where once elites drew authority from their own people, today they draw authority from the European Union, and other summits of world leaders. The growth of the European Union runs in tandem with the decline in national politics. As national sovereignty is hollowed out, technocratic administration from Brussels fills the void. This account of the rise of the European Union includes a full survey of the major schools of thought in European studies, and a valuable guide to those who want to take back control. ,