Affiliation:
1. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Abstract
Many authoritarian regimes seek to blunt everyday acts of resistance and social mobilization through co-optation rather than adopting riskier tools like outright repression. What are the political imprints of authoritarian-era co-optation after a transition to democracy? We examine this question in Portugal, where rural corporatist institutions known as Casas do Povo sought to co-opt peasants and dismantle worker mobilization in the fascist era. We find conditional effects for the consequences of rural co-optation in Portugal’s restive southern region, where Casas do Povo took on particular importance given ongoing social mobilization over exploitative labor conditions in the countryside. Absent robust co-optation, social mobilization in the fascist era translated into greater support for the left-wing Portuguese Communist Party after democratization and less support for the right. But the electoral legacies of social mobilization are absent where the fascist regime created early Casas do Povo, facilitating co-optation.
Funder
Center for International Social Science Research, University of Chicago
The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts, University of Chicago
Subject
Sociology and Political Science