
The Portuguese Estado Novo and the Fear of «No Empire»
Sep 21, 2018 | Papers, Publications

The Portuguese Estado Novo and the Fear of «No Empire»: Some Intangible Reasons for the Resistance to Decolonization (1945-74)
- Adolfo Cueto-Rodríguez
- 2018
- Espacio, Tiempo y Forma
- Number 30
- 143-165
- Language: Spanish
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5944/etfv.30.2018.18965
- ISSN: 1130-0124 / 2340-1451 (online)
It is well known that the Portuguese dictatorship resisted decolonization until the end of its days, in April 1974. Since 1961 it did so with arms. The symbiosis between the perpetuation of the regime and the colonial war was such that one could hardly have survived without the other. Still, without a better solution, the future of both was sentenced. More difficult than starting a conflict is always to get out of it, which does not mean that the decision to embark on one and to keep it is simple. The reasons supporting the Portuguese government’s decision have been overly studied and are multiple. But what about the arguments that, as dogmas of faith, compromised the historical continuity of the homeland and its unity of destiny without the colonies? This text will focus on those arguments, since for many people the possibility of the «No Empire» hypothesis seriously threatened national identity and the countryʼs independence. To what extent did this vision of reality influenced the decision to resist and to hamper the political correction that would end the war? We donʼt know how to quantify the imponderable, but it deserves a reflection..
Keywords:
Portuguese Empire; Estado Novo; Colonial War; Decolonization; Communism; National independence; Iberism; European Integration
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Detalhes do Evento
Workshop with experts on the history of relations between the United States and Portugal, who will present their latest studies on various aspects of this relationship — an initiative that
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Detalhes do Evento
Workshop with experts on the history of relations between the United States and Portugal, who will present their latest studies on various aspects of this relationship — an initiative that is part of the cycle Lisbon, Capital of International Intrigue.
Between Culture and Diplomacy: US / Portugal relations in the 1940s-70s
Este evento reúne especialistas na história das relação entre os EUA e Portugal, que apresentarão os seus mais recentes estudos sobre várias dimensões desta relação desde a Segunda Guerra Mundial até ao final do Estado Novo. Terá particular destaque o papel de práticas culturais enquanto formas de diplomacia, incluindo filmes como os que compõem o ciclo Lisboa, Capital da Intriga Internacional, a decorrer na Cinemateca entre os dias 2 e 31 de Março. A sessão terminará com a exibição e discussão do documentário Adventures in the Empire: a mistold story (Rui Lopes, 2024), sobre as representação cinematográficas do colonialismo português em Macau.
Oradores/as:
Frédéric Vidal (Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa), A Dinner with Roger Moore: Tourism and Portugal’s Cultural Policies in the Early 1960s
Miguel Moniz (ICS — Universidade de Lisboa), An Enemy of the State: the Associated Press, Salazar, and how Dennis Redmont’s Journalism Challenged a Dictatorship
Sara Antunes (ICS — Universidade de Lisboa), Report to the Senate: Allen Ellender’s Africa Tour and Estado Novo’s struggle for colonial legitimacy in the United States
Annarita Gori (ICS — Universidade de Lisboa), Navigating Space: American Astronauts in Lisbon (1966-71)
Rui Lopes (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST), Adventures in the Empire: a mistold story
ENTRADA LIVRE
>> Consulte o programa completo do ciclo AQUI (PDF)
[Os horários das projecções podem sofrer alterações. Confirme sempre no site da Cinemateca]
O ciclo Lisboa, Capital da Intriga Internacional resulta de uma colaboração entre a Cinemateca Portuguesa, o Instituto de História Contemporânea (IHC) e o projecto ExPORT (baseado no Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa), com apoio da Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento, do Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona, do Institut français du Portugal, do Instituto Cervantes de Lisboa e da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.
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(Terça-feira) 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
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Several Institutions
News
VINCULUM — An end and a new beginning
Feb 24, 2026
FCSH hosted the closing session of the VINCULUM project
In March, Lisbon becomes the Capital of International Intrigue
Feb 21, 2026
Between 2 and 31 March, at the Portuguese Cinematheque
Anita Buhin is on a research mission in Italy
Feb 20, 2026
She is now a Visiting Researcher at CAST, University of Bologna
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