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Portugal Economic Elites
The "oligarchy" was the third of the historical
triumvirate
of power in Portugal (armed forces, church, and oligarchy)
to be
in decline. Many of the old oligarchical families traced
their
origins to the Reconquest. They acquired their land,
position,
and titles, and eventually peasants and cattle, as the
Reconquest
drove the Moors farther south, opening up new territories
for
settlement.
This oligarchy, armed with titles of nobility granted
it by
the royal family in return for loyalty, dominated
Portuguese
politics for centuries. But over time, its character
changed. In
the south of Portugal, the Alentejo, the landowning class
became
increasingly absentee landlords, leaving managers in
charge of
its estates and moving to Lisbon. In the north, where
smallholdings predominated, many members of the oligarchy
became
impoverished--or went into businesses like wine making.
During
the reign of Salazar, members of the elite went into
banking,
insurance, construction, and similar fields in which they
could
establish oligopolies and monopolies based on their close
ties
with the government.
After the Revolution of 1974, this economic elite was
stripped of power. Its properties were confiscated, many
from the
elite were jailed or sent into exile, and the group lost
all
political power. In addition, members of the elite were
barred
from participating in politics or from forming political
movements of their own by means of the laws forbidding
far-right
political activity.
As of the beginning of the 1990s, most of the exiles
had been
permitted to return to Portugal, and those who had spent
time in
jail were freed. Some of the elite managed to regain their
power
by taking advantage of the economy's need for financial
expertise. But the elite as a whole did not regain its old
financial position. Its political influence remained
limited, as
well, and only one member of the old Salazar regime had
been
elected to parliament.
Data as of January 1993
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