The fall of the Portuguese dictatorship, in 1974, heralded the ‘third wave’ of democratizations. Unshackled by international pro-democracy forces and occurring during the Cold War, the coup led to a severe state crisis that was further aggravated by the fact that the processes of democratization and decolonization happened simultaneously. In this chapter, we argue that a correlation must be established between the nature of Portugal’s democratization and not only the absence of a veto capacity by former authoritarian elites and institutions, due to their collapse, but especially the cleavages created by democratization and military intervention in politics. We also argue that the transition’s powerful momentum served to form another legacy for the consolidation of democracy, superseding and transmuting its impact on Portugal’s democracy.

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