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The PIDE and Portuguese Society under the Salazar Dictatorship 1945-1974: Fear, Self-Policing, Accommodation.

Descripción del proyecto

Las conexiones entre la policía secreta y las personas

El surgimiento de dictaduras en el período de entreguerras y su mantenimiento durante años es un fenómeno ampliamente asociado con la política europea del siglo XX. El régimen de Salazar en Portugal no es una excepción y, de hecho, se trata de la dictadura más duradera en Europa (1926-1974). Entre las instituciones del régimen se encontraba la policía secreta infamemente conocida como «la PIDE». El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos secretPOL estudiará el papel que desempeñó la PIDE en Portugal y cómo reaccionó la sociedad portuguesa. El proyecto cuestiona los conocimientos existentes sobre la relación entre la PIDE y los ciudadanos portugueses, y también propone una interpretación basada en la interactividad. Presupone que, con la excepción de los opositores, la sociedad portuguesa se adaptó a las oportunidades de estabilidad que ofrecía el régimen.

Objetivo

The Salazar regime was the longest-lasting dictatorship in Europe in the Twentieth Century. If the Military Dictatorship from which it emerged is taken into account, it lasted 48 years, from 1926 to 1974. Like the other dictatorships born in the inter-war years, it relied heavily on its secret police (PIDE) for stability. This research programme aims to reconceptualise the relation between the PIDE and Portuguese society in order to reach a more complete understanding of the regime’s exceptional durability. By drawing on developments in the international bibliography of totalitarianisms, of everyday life under a dictatorship, and of denunciatory practices, it challenges the established interpretative paradigm which sees the relation between the PIDE and society almost exclusively as one of top-down repression imposed upon a nation of passive victims. Its core argument is that the relation between the PIDE and Portuguese society was far more multi-facetted, dynamic and interactive than has been acknowledged until now. This research project posits as its main underlying thesis the notion that the Salazarist system was normalised by many Portuguese citizens as part of the structure of everyday life. Society adapted to the institutional framework imposed by the regime - including the secret police -, acting on the opportunities that opened up rather than remaining dependent or passive. If the role of society in the perpetuation of the Salazarist order is to be duly assessed, the framework of interaction between society and the secret police must be apprehended with recourse to a novel analytical prism (focusing on ordinary citizens instead of on the small minority of oppositionists who have monopolised the attention of historians so far), new research methodologies (oral history and opinion surveying) and original archival material (the letters of denunciation held at the PIDE Archives in Lisbon).

Coordinador

INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS SOCIAIS
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 147 815,04
Dirección
AV PROF ANIBAL DE BETTENCOURT 9
1600 189 Lisboa
Portugal

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Región
Continente Área Metropolitana de Lisboa Área Metropolitana de Lisboa
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 147 815,04