Social concertation in a new democracy: Portugal's experience to 198

In the midst of political instability, economic crisis and social conflict, and against expectations based on some theoretical approaches to the study of societal corporatism, social concertation was institutionalized in Portugal in 1984. This dissertation studies the emergence of this societal corporatist form of policy making in Portugal.;This study is informed by two principal theoretical approaches. The "power resources" approach relates societal corporatism to internal factors which are reflective of a balance in the distribution of class power in society. The "economic vulnerability" approach argues, on the other hand, that societal corporatism is positively related to the degree of economic vulnerability in the international economy experienced by small nations.;The conditions which the "power resources" approach posits to be positively associated with societal corporatism are to a large extent absent in Portugal. Nevertheless, a Permanent Council for Social Concertation (CPCS) was created in 1984. Through this institution, the state, the employers and labor sign incomes and prices policies agreements and economic accords as well as discuss government bills before they are sent to parliament. Various tripartite committees in which the social partners participate in more specialized areas of policy making also emerged.;After the revolution of 1974, with the loss of the colonial empire in 1975, and the institutionalization of democracy in 1976, this is what Portugal was faced with: (1) economic dependence and vulnerability to international economic shocks, (2) two major economic crises for which Portugal had to resort to the IMF and other international financial institutions, and (3) the need to engage in extensive economic restructuring in order to steer the Portuguese economy away from involvement in protected colonial markets and towards open international competition within the larger context of the European Community of which Portugal became a member in 1986. This dissertation argues that these latter variables can explain the emergence of societal corporatism in democratic Portugal.;Portugal's experience, then, provides strong support for the international "economic vulnerability" approach, but it shows also that the extent to which societal corporatism emerges and its degree of stability and permanence is related to internal factors, such as the distribution of class power in civil society, the structure of the class movements, the political system and the state. This dissertation, therefore, proposes a synthesis of both theoretical approaches.;Social concertation, by bringing about policy compromises among state, employer, and labor representatives can greatly contribute to the emergence of an overarching class compromise crucial for the survival of democracy in countries in transition to democracy.