2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the April 25th, 1974, democratic revolution in Portugal, a watershed event that launched what Harvard University professor Samuel Huntington called the ‘third wave” of global democratization. April 25 had a profound domestic and international impact; it liberated Portugal from dictatorship, opened the path to decolonization and independence of five Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome e Principe), and marked the beginning of the third wave of democratization across the world.
Paul Manuel (Georgetown University) and Daniela Melo (Boston University) will discuss the political, economic and social transformations in Portugal, as well as the international geopolitical and historical context in which the events unfolded. Manuel and Melo are Luso-American political scientists who share a deep interest in the Portuguese case, having both dedicated much of their scholarly output to understanding the political dynamics of the past fifty years in Portugal
Paul Manuel interviewed twenty-four of the most important protagonists of the revolution in 1990 and 1991, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Those interviews and analysis were collected in the book called Vozes da Revolução: Revisitando o 25 de Abril de 1974, Entrevistas e Estudos [English: Voices of the Revolution: Revisiting the Portuguese Revolution of 25 April 1974] (Lisbon, Tinta da China, 2024). The Portuguese Commission for the Commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April Revolution [Estrutura de Missão para as Comemorações do Quinquagésimo Aniversário da Revolução de 25 de Abril de 1974] has recently honored that book for making a significant historical contribution to the scholarship. The book will be presented at the event.
