Contemporary Portuguese History

Code:

CC023

Acronym:

HCPORT

Instance: 2013/2014 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Communication Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
CC	126	Plano Oficial a partir de 2008/2009	1	-	5	52	135

Teaching language

Português, English, Español, Français, Italiano

Objectives

At the end of the semester, students should be able to:

1. Realise the need for a scientific analysis of recent History for the understanding of social reality.

2. Organise historically and chronologically the most important stages of Portuguese contemporary history.

3. Identify explaining elements for the formation and crisis of the Portuguese political regimes of the 20th century.

4. Describe the main aspects of the Portuguese social and economic evolution throughout the 20th century.

5. Analyse critically in a written exam at least two relevant problems of the Portuguese history in the last hundred years.

Learning outcomes and competences

1. Be able to articulate basic instruments of scientific analysis of the recent times in order to understand social reality.

2. Be able to identify and use basic elements of causality of the formation and crisis of political regimes

3. Be able to identify structural aspects of the Portuguese social and economic evolution throughout the 20th century.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. INTRODUCTION: the role of Contemporary History in training Journalism and Communication professionals: students' expectations and historical significance of the 20th century.

 

2. MONARCHIST AUTHORITARIANISM AND FIRST REPUBLIC: UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO OVERCOME THE CRISIS OF THE PORTUGUESE LIBERAL SYSTEM (1906-26):

2.1 João Franco's cesarianism and the final crisis of Monarchist regime (from the turn of the century to the 5 Octuber revolution).

2.2 Republican reformism: a progressive programme for Education and State reform.

2.3 Political violence and the right-wing swing towards authoritarianism: engagement in World War I, the military in political life, Sidonismo (1917-18) and the military conspiracies, repression of the working-class movement.

 

3. SALAZARISM AND THE AUTHORITARIAN NEW ORDER (1926-45):

3.1Fascism and reactionary authoritarianism in the Age of Fascism (1918-45).

3.2 The consolidation of Salazarism: from authoritarian transition (1926-33) to fascistisation (1933-43/45). Corporatism, war (Spanish Civil War, WWII), Política do Espírito (Policy of the Spirit), repression.

 

4. DICTATORSHIP, MODERNISATION AND WAR (1945-74):

4.1 The post-war inevitable modernisation and the embryonic opening of Portuguese economy (OEEC and EFTA).

4.2 Political, cultural and ideological counterattack of the opposition: PCP's reorganisation and antifascist front (1943-49); from the 1949-58 retreat to the 1958-62 permanent assail; the radicalisation of the 60s and 70s.

4.3 Colonialism and Colonial War: from rhetorical Empire to preparation for war (1943-61); Goa (1961), war in Africa (1961-74) and its impact (emigration, exhaustion, desertion, protest).

4.4 Marcelo Caetano's rule (1968-74): the aborted Spring and the regime's inner contradictions.

 

5. FROM THE APRIL 1974 REVOLUTION TO THE LOST DECADE (2002-14):

5.1 Revolution, democratisation and decolonisation (1974-76): a Portuguese model for democracy.

5.2 The normalisation of Portuguese democracy (1976-86): crisis, counter-Revolution and the choice for European integration.

5.3 From European integration to the attack on the Welfare-State (1986-2013): economic liberalisation, structural crisis of the economy, recession.

5.4 A Portuguese new identity: cultural and ethnic plurality, secularisation, persistence of tradition.

Mandatory literature

Reis, António (coord.); Portugal Contemporâneo, Publicações Alfa, 1989 (Collective work which offers a general overview of Portuguese history since 1820 Liberal Revolution until Portuguese integration in the European Community (1986).)

Comments from the literature

See the whole list of Biliography in the DOCUMENTOS attached to this module webpage!

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theory-practical classes consist of a set of activities that include the presentation of information, sometimes using texts previously made available to students, usually through multimedia presentations, analysis of written documents, films and pictures, graphs and tables, and open discussion on the issues under study.
As the number of students enrolled amounts to over 120, it becomes clearly impossible for a single teacher (and evaluator) to be able to supervise in Tutorials actual research activities, such as commenting web and/or bibliographic research and/or to prepare a critical review of an essay/book/documentary film. Thus, and giving up of what has been the work for the last 16 years of the teacher now in charge of this module, Tutorial activities will stick to preparation of the final written exam, namely proposing relevant literature, advising on its use and relevance, and analysing and interpreting documents of the kind above mentioned.

Software

Projetor multimédia

keywords

Social sciences > Political sciences
Social sciences > Sociology
Humanities > History > Contemporary History
Humanities > History > Social history
Humanities > History > Political history
Humanities > History > Economic history

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

 

Having been imposed to the teacher in charge of this module full responsibility over the evaluation of more than 120 students, thus not shared together with any other teacher, it becomes definitely impossible to evaluate any practical research procedure developed by the students. Consequently, approval in this module requires only:

(i) to be present in 75% of the classes, both Theory-practical and Tutorials;

(ii) a minimal mark of 10 (ten) out of 20 at the final written exam.

 

Calculation formula of final grade

Final written exam: 100%

Observations

1. Students' may have free access to literature and other study material they may bring along (but not to Internet!) in every written, which implies that exams will focus on the resolution of practical research and historical interpretation problems.
2. Classes will be taught in Portuguese, but English, Français, Español or Italiano may be used as working languages, including in written exams.