A test of the concepts of nomocracy and teleocracy: the newspaper Política during the «primavera marcelista» (1969-1970)

Abstract

This study aims at defending the pertinence of the concepts of nomocracy and teleocracy in analysing contemporary Portuguese political history. Used by Michael Oakeshott in his reflection on the history of western political ideas, these concepts guide the historian in his/her definition of the field of fundamental political choices in a given historic scenario. This pertinence is tested here on a particular moment in the political struggle in Portugal: the revolutionary nationalist newspaper during the so-called «primavera marcelista». The author concludes by suggesting that the concepts are perhaps more valid for the study of a longer historical period.