The Exceptional Case of Post-Bailout Portugal South European Society and Politics Series

This book explores the argument that Portugal has been an exception to the trend of political upheaval and electoral instability across Southern Europe following the financial crisis and the bailout period. It does so by mapping and exploring in-depth three key dimensions: the governmental arena, the party system and citizens? political attitudes.

The five chapters in this edited volume show that a number of factors combine to make Portugal not only a very stimulating case study, but also an exception within the South European panorama: the stability of its party system, and that of the mainstream parties? electoral support in particular; the quick recovery of political attitudes after the end of the bailout period (2011-2014); the absence of competitive populist challengers until 2019, despite high levels of populist attitudes amongst the citizenry; the successful and stable union between anti-austerity parties supporting the socialist government (dubbed the ?Contraption?) and its adoption of an ?austerity by stealth? model. This book shows that it is possible to combine critical junctures and political stability, responsiveness and responsibility, through the study of one of the most intriguing cases in Southern Europe in the last decades. The Exceptional Case of Post-Bailout Portugal will be of interest to students, researchers and scholars of Political Science and European Studies.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, South European Society and Politics.

1. The Exceptional Case of Post-Bailout Portugal: A Comparative Outlook 2. How to Combine Public Spending with Fiscal Rigour? ‘Austerity by Stealth’ in Post-Bailout Portugal (2015-2019) 3. Party System Renewal or Business as Usual? Continuity and Change in Post-Bailout Portugal 4. Demand without Supply? Populist Attitudes and Voting Behaviour in Post-Bailout Portugal 5. In the Shadow of the ‘Government of the Left’: The 2019 Legislative Elections in Portugal

Elisabetta De Giorgi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences (DiSPeS) of the University of Trieste, Italy. Her main research interests are parliaments from a comparative perspective and opposition parties. She has published several articles in national and international journals and the book L’opposizione parlamentare in Italia. Dall’antiberlusconismo all’antipolitica (2016). She has edited the volume Opposition Parties in European Legislatures. Conflict or Consensus? (2018) with Gabriella Ilonszki.

José Santana-Pereira is Assistant Professor at ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute’s Department of Political Science and Public Policy, and Researcher at CIES-Lisbon University Institute, Portugal. His research focuses on issues such as media systems, media effects on public opinion, campaigns, political attitudes and voting behaviour. His work has been published in journals including Electoral Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, South European Society and Politics, Swiss Political Science Review and International Journal of Press/Politics.