Estado Novo (Portugal)

The Estado Novo (European Portuguese pronunciation: [(ɨ)ʃˈtaðu ˈnovu], lit. 'New State') was the corporatist Portuguese state installed in 1933. It evolved from the Ditadura Nacional ("National Dictatorship") formed after the coup d'état of 28 May 1926 against the unstable First Republic. Together, the Ditadura Nacional and the Estado Novo are recognised by historians as the Second Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: Segunda República Portuguesa) or Salazarist Portugal. The Estado Novo, greatly inspired by conservative and autocratic ideologies, was developed by António de Oliveira Salazar, who was President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 until illness forced him out of office in 1968.

Opposed to communism, socialism, syndicalism, anarchism, liberalism and anti-colonialism, the regime was conservative, corporatist, and nationalist in nature, defending Portugal's traditional Catholicism. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a pluricontinental nation under the doctrine of lusotropicalism, with Angola, Mozambique, and other Portuguese territories as extensions of Portugal itself, it being a supposed source of civilisation and stability to the overseas societies in the African and Asian possessions. Under the Estado Novo, Portugal tried to perpetuate a vast, centuries-old empire with a total area of 2,168,071 square kilometres (837,097 mi²), while other former colonial powers had, by this time, largely acceded to global calls for self-determination and independence of their overseas colonies.

Although Portugal was a dictatorial country, it pursued economic policies aligned with those of democratic and developed nations. The first steps toward economic integration began in 1948 when Portugal joined the Marshall Plan, and subsequently became a founding member of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). In 1960, Portugal joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which allowed the country to integrate its industries with European markets while protecting its agriculture and fisheries, where it could not compete with Northern European nations. Portugal also expanded its economic ties globally by joining the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1962. Under Marcelo Caetano, who replaced an ageing Salazar as prime minister in 1968, the country continued to liberalise its economy and advance European integration. This effort culminated in the signing of a free trade agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1972. When Portugal, under the Third Portuguese Republic, finally joined the EEC in 1986, most trade barriers with the rest of Western Europe had already been dismantled by the Estado Novo, with the exception of those relating to agricultural goods and fisheries and, more importantly, trade with Spain.

On the political front, Portugal was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, and joined the United Nations (UN) in 1955. From 1950 until Salazar's death in 1970, Portugal saw its GDP per capita increase at an annual average rate of 5.7 per cent, leading to significant economic convergence with wealthier Western European nations. Despite this remarkable economic growth, by the fall of the Estado Novo in 1974, Portugal still had the lowest per capita income and the lowest literacy rate in Western Europe. However, this economic convergence slowed or even reversed after the end of the Estado Novo, as political and economic instability in the post-1974 period hampered further progress. On 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, a military coup organised by left-wing Portuguese military officers—the Armed Forces Movement (MFA)—led to the end of the Estado Novo.