The New Portuguese State: A Preliminary Interpretation

Characterizing the essence Salazar's "New State" is a difficult, indeed almost an impossible, exercise. It is not too strong to say that there exists an ideological & historiographic tradition that characterizes the "New State" as a unique regime, different from all others normally classified as "fascist." Must we, however, simply adopt this thesis without further discussion? This is precisely the problem posed in this article with a view, not to finding a definitive solution, but rather to encourage further reflection. Progress on this question, the article concludes, will depend less on theoretical reflection than on new & additional empirical research. Adapted from the source document.