Portugal in Ruins: From “Europe” to Crisis and Austerity

Abstract

This article engages the analyses of Poulantzas, Anderson, and Ferreira do Aramal to outline the main politico-economic contours of post-Carnation Revolution Portugal. The account that follows examines the effects of accession to the European Economic Community (EEC), European Union (EU) structural funding and liberalization policies, and the euro currency. The article concludes by situating the troika’s 2011 “rescue” of the Portuguese state—and the accompanying austerity measures—within the post-1974 process of “Europeanization.”