In 1974, Portugal's Carnation Revolution, initiated by the military, received huge popular support. Army officers, mostly of the rank of captain, started the Revolution, but then the politicians took over. While it was largely a ‘top down’ revolution, at the local government level ordinary people assumed control. In this article we consider those who made up the local elites before the Revolution, during the transition period that followed, and thereafter. We compare the local elites in Portugal during Salazar's dictatorship with those under the Democratic regime, using a database of 6,000 entries containing details of 3,102 mayors and deputy mayors and 402 civil governors who held office between 1936 and 2013. Our main conclusions are that during the transition period the elite who had ruled under Salazar were almost completely replaced. A new group, from different professions and social backgrounds, took up the reins of local government. The Revolution produced a population willing to participate in the new order and take on roles within local government, but they did not always retain their seats after the first democratic elections.
In Portugal important legal innovations have been introduced in local government, related to the problems of negative images associated with longevity and corruption, and a decrease in voters' turnout. Independent local lists were introduced into the race in the form of citizen groups, mayors' terms were limited to three and there was a parity law. Participative budgets and decentralized local council meetings have also provided new tools for citizen participation. The object was to discuss whether these innovations are real contributions for local democracy. Methodology included the analysis of the legislative process and its enforcement, and practical consequences, namely on new representatives and citizen participation.
Fernando da Silva Correia foi filho de Joaquim Manuel Correia (1858-1945, advogado e autor das obras Memórias sobre o concelho do Sabugal: terras de Riba-Côa e Celestina: episódios da última guerrilha carlo-miguelista.Licenciado em Medicina pela Universidade de Coimbra em 1917, tirou em Lisboa as especialidades de Medicina Sanitária em 1920 e de Hidrologia em 1921. O curso de Medicina Sanitária, ministrado no Instituto Central de Higiene, fornecia a habilitação necessária para o exercício do cargo de delegado de saúde, cujas funções, a nível distrital, incluíam a direção técnica dos serviços sanitários, o licenciamento dos estabelecimentos, a fiscalização da higiene industrial e do trabalho operário ou agrícola, a higiene infantil e as condições sanitárias da população em geral.
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