Political integration of ‘lusophone’ non-national citizens in Portugal: perceptions of key political actors

Abstract

Based upon research conducted between 2001 and 2003, this text explores the perceptions of key political actors in regard to the political integration of non-national citizens in Portugal, wondering about their sensitivity to the idea of stimulating a post-national attitude in this society. It concludes that political actors tend to recognize the existence of an incipient participatory dynamic between democracy and non-national residents. However, positions diverge about the relevance that such incipience must be given in the evaluation of Portuguese democracy's health, denouncing the existence of a tension between a conservative line of thought that perceives citizenship within the traditional nation-state's paradigm, and a progressive line that perceives it beyond the constraints of national membership. There persists also a counterproductive bluriness about the citizen as a non-national and the citizen as a member of an ethnic community - a problem particularly evident in the analysis of the ‘lusophone’ case.