Abstract

Histories of Portugal’s transition to democracy have long focused on the 1974 military coup that toppled the authoritarian Estado Novo regime and set in motion the divestment of the nation’s colonial holdings. However, the events of this “Carnation Revolution” were in many ways the culmination of a much longer process of resistance and protest originating in universities and other sectors of society. Combining careful research in police, government, and student archives with insights from social movement theory, The Revolution before the Revolution broadens our understanding of Portuguese democratization by tracing the societal convulsions that preceded it over the course of the “long 1960s.”

Guya Accornero is a senior researcher fellow in political science at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, Lisbon University Institute (IUL) - with a grant of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, grant number FCT-IF/00223/2012) - and invited professor at the same University. She collaborates with the ‘Barometer of News’ of the IUL Journalism School. She has been visiting researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences of the Juan March Foundation, Madrid; at the Lausanne University Research Centre on Political Action and at the CUNY-Graduate Centre, New York City. Her research interests include contentious politics, radicalization, political violence, repression, anti-austerity protest, housing and anti-gentrification movements. Besides several book-chapters, she has published articles in the journals West European Politics, Democratization, Cultures & Conflicts, Análise Social, Storia e Problemi Contemporanei, Historein, Estudos Ibero-Americanos, and Journal of Contemporary Religion. She is the co-editor of the book Percorsi. Scienze sociali tra Italia e Portogallo (BraDypUS).

“[This volume] is methodologically solid, empirically rich and theoretically innovative and will be an indispensable read to anyone interested in the history of authoritarianism and social movements in postwar Europe, scholarly or not.” • Democratization

“The Revolution before the Revolution is a landmark study, bringing us an insightful look into student mobilization against authoritarianism which will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Southern European democratization, but also to those concerned with the dynamics of opposition to authoritarianism in a wide range of settings.” • Social History

“This is an excellent study of the political mobilization of students in the long 1960s and its global diffusion in an authoritarian setting. It will be essential reading for students of social movements and political and cultural change in Europe.” • António Costa Pinto, University of Lisbon

“While there have been important studies of the rural and labor movements against the Portuguese dictatorship, the era’s student movements have for the most part not yet been approached in the same vein. Guya Accornero’s book on the subject combines important empirical research with a clear theoretical framework, making a contribution that is relevant beyond just Portuguese history.” • Rafael Durán-Muñoz, Universidad de Málaga