50 years of the Carnation Revolution
By: Ana Good God
Apr 25, 2024
Today we join in when Portugal celebrates its 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution! It set the scene not only for Portugal’s social revolution, decolonialization, and re-democratization, but also for the third wave of democratization in the world. This week’s graph shows the changes in the Liberal Democracy Index in Portugal, Greece, and Spain in the past 50 years.
The Carnation Revolution overthrew the Estado Novo after 41 years of an authoritarian regime. Greece and Spain followed suit and commenced their transitions to democracy. Greece held democratic legislative elections in November 1974, ending Papadopoulos’s dictatorship. Spain began its transition in November 1975, with the death of General Franco.
The three countries went from being autocracies to stable liberal democracies in the following decades. However, they are all now going through declines in democracy in the context of the third wave of autocratization, with Greece affected the most.
Viva a revolução dos cravos!
