The Prime Ministers of Portugal (1820-2020)

Fernando de Sousa e Conceição Meireles Pereira (coord.)

The importance of the Prime Minister as a political actor determining the History of Contemporary Portugal and, at the same time, as an object of that same History, is unquestionable. Seeking to address this topic with the necessary depth, CEPESE, with the sponsorship of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, produced this three-volume work, with the participation of dozens of renowned researchers, published by Imprensa-Nacional Casa da Moeda, addressing the biographies of more than 80 personalities who held the position of Prime Minister since the definitive triumph of Liberalism to the present day.

The first volume includes an introductory study, composed of three chapters, the first of which is dedicated to the slow affirmation of the position of Prime Minister in Portugal, since the Liberal Revolution of 1820, in which the prominence of certain ministers in relation to the others is detected, followed by the de facto institution of the Head of Government in 1834, the President of the Council of Ministers, not yet legally and formally established, which will occur in 1855. The second chapter analyzes the constitutional experiences in Portugal, identifying the State bodies and functions, then looking at the evolution of the constitutional body known as Prime Minister. The third chapter presents a sociological approach to Prime Ministers in Portugal in the same time frame, summarizing the fundamental aspects that have to do with their identity and civic and political functions, in order to outline their general profile and giving a group vision of the personalities who held this position.

Next comes the central part of this work, the biographies of the Prime Ministers of Portugal, ordered chronologically by the different historical-political periods of Portugal. Thus, the first volume covers the time between the Liberal Revolution and the definitive establishment of Liberalism (1820-1834) and the Constitutional Monarchy (1834-1910); the second volume deals with the First Republic (1910-1926); and the third volume comprises the Military Dictatorship and Estado Novo (1926-1974), and Democracy (1974-2020).

Nota: Due to publishing rights, only the first pages of the work are available. The book is available at CEPESE's Library.

Authors: Ana Paula Pires, António José Queiroz, Bruno J. Navarro, Carla Ribeiro, Conceição Meireles Pereira, David Castaño, David Justino, Diogo Agostinho, Diogo Ferreira, Edmundo Alves, Ernesto Castro Leal, Fernanda Paula Sousa Maia, Fernando de Sousa, Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses, Filipe S. Fernandes, Henrique Monteiro, Isabel Banond, Isilda Monteiro, João César das Neves, João Pedro George, José Miguel Sardica, José Pedro Zúquete, Júlia Leitão de Barros, Luís Alberto Marques Alves, Luís Barbosa Rodrigues, Luís Bigotte Chorão, Luís Farinha, Manuel M. Cardoso Leal, Maria Alice Samara, Maria Inácia Rezola, Maria Rosa Sampaio, Manuel Baiôa, Miguel Dias Santos, Nuno Severiano Teixeira, Paulo Bruno Alves, Paulo Jorge Fernandes, Pedro Emanuel Mendes, Pedro Leal, Vasco Ribeiro, Ricardo Miguel Gomes, Ricardo Rocha, Rui Cascão