Portugal in the European Union ─ Assessing Twenty-five Years of Integration Experience

In 2010, 25 years will have elapsed since Portugal signed the Accession Treaty which allowed it to become a full-fledged member of the then European Community.

The volume elicits how Portugal has grasped opportunities and challenges emanating from its participation in the institutional, regulatory and political frameworks of the European Union (EU) as these became more intricate as well as intrusive. It scrutinizes the adjustments and transformations that took place in the Portuguese society, politics and economics as well as in the country’s international relations as engendered by its increasing enmeshment in the Community-building dynamics. Divided into three main parts:

• Part I focuses on the major changes within the domestic arena, notably on the political economical and social fronts
• Part II addresses the adjustments that the Portuguese leadership had to introduce in order to participate in key common policies and strategies.
• Part III is centred on foreign policy and assesses and discusses the impact upon Portugal’s international relations.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, EU studies, comparative politics and those with a strong interest in Portugal.

Laura C. Ferreira-Pereira is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the Technical University of Lisbon. Between April 2004 and March 2010, she was the Head of the Research Unit in Political Science and International Relations (NICPRI) of the University of Minho and Editor of the journal ‘Perspectivas-Portuguese Journal of Political Science and International Relations’. Since 2004 she is Member of the Steering Committee of the ECPR’s Standing Group on International Relations. Her current research interests focus on security and defence in the European Union (i.e. CFSP/CSDP), international relations of the European Union (with particular emphasis on relations with Africa and Brazil); Portuguese foreign and security policy; and the role of security organisations in post-Cold War Europe. Her recent publications include Inside the Fence but Outside the Walls: The Militarily Non-Allied States in the Security Architecture of Post-Cold War Europe, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2007; ‘International Relations in Portugal: The State of the Field and Beyond’, Global Society, 2009 (co-authored); and ‘Portugal and the 2007 EU Presidency: A Case of Constructive Bridge-Building’, The JCMS Annual Review of the European Union in 2007, 2008.