Transitional justice and left-right cleavage in the Portuguese parliament (1976-2015)

Abstract

This article analyzes the behavior of parliamentary parties during the decision-making process on how to deal with the authoritarian past in Portugal from 1976 to 2015. The goal is to examine the importance of the left-right cleavage vis-à-vis other factors explored in the literature. Through this study we aim to understand the extent to which party ideology explains the initiative and the support given to transitional justice initiatives in parliament. The main conclusion is that ideology on its own does not explain party behavior and that other factors such as the government/opposition cleavage and the legacies of the transition help explain the observed patterns.