Salazarism in recent research on European Fascism - old problems, old answers?

Abstract

This article analyses the interpretations of Salazar's «New State» produced by recent international research. After a brief introduction on the main models used, the author describes the positions of Italian, Spanish, French and Austrian historians and of Eastern Europe. This research leads us to conclude that, although there is progressive empiric knowledge of the «New State», international researchers still separate Salazar's regime from European Fascism. The combination authoritarianism/totalitarianism, at the level of organization of the political system and the models of organizing society, was the main factor in choosing the authoritarian «paradigm» for the Portuguese case. Some «absences», like the lack of a Fascist party, of intensive political mobilization or of an expansionist ideology, are the elements which have almost always been quoted to separate Salazar's regime.