Portugal/ 1. Historical perspective: cultural policies and instruments  

Until 25 April 1974, Portugal was under an anti-liberal and nationalist "Salazarist" regime, which had been imposed following the military coup of 28 May 1926. One of the main concerns of the regime was the organisation of cultural activities to be used for propaganda purposes. The authoritarian regime of the "Estado Novo" gave itself the right to decide the type of culture that was appropriate for the Portuguese people and the values by which it should be shaped. Against this background, the role of the education system and censorship was crucial.

The military coup of 25 April 1974, which ended the "Salazarist" regime and ushered democracy into Portugal, brought about profound changes in politics, the economy, society and culture. By July 1976, there had been six provisional governments, all very short-lived. The demise of the Sixth Provisional Government in 1976 marked the beginning of a new political era in the country, with power being exercised successively by eighteen constitutional governments until the present year (2010). 

The period from 1985 to 1995 had three successive Social Democratic governments, which resulted in the broad lines of cultural policy remaining relatively homogeneous. The programmes of these governments demonstrated the importance that they accorded to cultural heritage and reading, which had direct repercussions for the amount of legislation passed on these sectors.

A Socialist government came to power in October 1995 and initiated a more interventionist role in the field of culture than under the three previous governments. For the first time, culture was placed under the aegis of a Ministry of Culture as it was now regarded as one of the priority areas for government action. The structure of the previous Secretariat of State was modified, existing agencies restructured, and new bodies set up.

Under the Socialist Governments (1995-2002), there were three ministers of culture. A new government involving Social Democratic and Popular Parties was elected in 2002, which resulted in revised cultural policies and some changes in the organisational structure of the Ministry of Culture, due to financial restrictions and concentration of services. After the Prime Minister's departure to take up the position of President of the European Commission (2004), a government of continuity lasted a few months until its resignation following the dissolution of the Parliament. Elections resulted in a new Socialist Government and Portugal had its sixth (and seventh) Minister of Culture in ten years.

In 2006, the Ministry of Culture underwent a reorganisation as part of the Programme to Reorganise the Central Government Administration (PRACE, 2006; Decree-Law 215/2006, of 27 November). The main objectives of this law are to modernise and rationalise public administration. In this context, several changes were made with implications for some of the national arts organisations (see also  chapter 2.1 and  chapter 7.1).

In 2009, elections resulted in another Socialist Government being elected. Regarding the cultural sector, the current government programme assumes a reinforcement of the budget, mainstreaming of cultural policies and the contribution of contemporary art to the country's development. Language, cultural heritage, arts and creative and cultural industries are the main priorities.