The Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics brings together the best scholars in the field offering an unrivaled coverage of the politics (broadly defined) of the country over the past 50 years. The Handbook includes eight sections. First, it looks at the past and present by making an overview of Portuguese political developments since democratization in the 1970s. Second, it looks at political institutions as the building blocks of Portuguese democracy. The third section examines mass politics and voters, that is, a thorough analysis of the demand-side of mass politics. The fourth section turns to the supply side of mass-politics by looking at parties and the party system. The fifth section looks at the Portuguese society by unpacking a plethora of societal aspects with direct implications for politics. The sixth section examines governance and public policies, with a view to understanding how a constellation of public policies has an impact on the quality of governance and in fostering well-being. The seventh section looks at Portugal and the European Union. The eighth and final section unpacks Portuguese foreign policy and defense.

“Portuguese social sciences have developed significantly over the past five decades. The maturity of the field permits us to take stock of Portuguese specificities, and the comparative leverage they allow, to produce a systematic and state-of-the-art coverage in the English language that has been missing thus far. The “Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics” aims to become the contemporary reference text about Portugal and its political system. We hope that political scientists, economists, historians, and sociologists take advantage of the wealth of data and knowledge amassed in this volume and find more incentives to include Portugal in their studies. Our Handbook includes 48 chapters, covering most aspects of Portuguese politics from an interdisciplinary perspective. The edition is divided into eight sections.” – Preface

About the Editors

Jorge M. Fernandes, Assistant Research Professor, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon; Pedro C. Magalhães, Research Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon; António Costa Pinto, Research Professor, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon.

Jorge M. Fernandes is an Assistant Research Professor, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (2013). His research interests include representation, electoral systems, political parties, legislatures, and coalitions. His work has appeared in journals such as “Comparative Political Studies”, “European Journal of Political Research”, “Political Behavior,” “Legislative Studies Quarterly”, “Party Politics”, and many others. He is the co-editor of “The Politics of Legislative Debates” (Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-authored a chapter in “The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies”.

Pedro C. Magalhães is a Research Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Ohio State University (2003). His research interests include public opinion, elections, and judicial politics. His work has appeared in journals such as the “American Journal of Political Science”, “Comparative Political Studies”, “European Journal of Political Research, Political Research Quarterly, West European Politics”, “Experimental Economics”, and many others. He has co-edited volumes for Oxford University Press and authored or co-authored chapters in three Oxford Handbooks (Executive Politics, Political Representation, and Spanish Politics).

António Costa Pinto is a Research Professor, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford University (1993), Georgetown University (2004), a senior associate member at St Antony’s College, Oxford (1995), and a senior visiting fellow at Princeton University (1996), at the University of California, Berkeley (2000 and 2010), and at New York University (2017). He is a past president of the Portuguese Political Science Association. His research interests include authoritarianism, democratization and transitional justice, political elites, and the comparative study of political change. Among his publications are ‘Political Institutions and Democracy in Portugal: Assessing the Impact of the Eurocrisis: (2019, Co-Ed.) and “Technocratic Ministers and Political Leadership in European Democracies”, (2018, Co-Ed).

Book Details

Title: The Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics

Editors: Jorge M. Fernandes & Pedro C. Magalhães

Publisher: ‎Oxford University Press

Publication Date: January 25, 2023

Language: ‎English

Hardcover: 816 pp