Political tolerance in Portugal and Spain: The importance of circumstantial factors

Abstract

A survey carried out in various European countries (the Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy [20012003] research project) revealed, rather surprisingly, that Portugal registered significantly higher overall levels of political tolerance than Spain (tolerance being measured by the number of minority groups the respondents excluded from participation in public meetings). The explanation put forward for these results was based on the distinction between structural tolerance, based on established dispositions and attitudes, and the circumstantial component of tolerance, which is dependent on the level of conflict with the minority groups. The greater presence in Spain than in Portugal of ideological extremism (Basque terrorism by ETA) and Islamic fundamentalism would explain this difference. In 2006, the same battery of questions measuring political tolerance was applied in Portugal and, partly, in Spain. In this study I seek to analyse (1) how these tolerance levels have developed, (2) whether the difference in tolerance levels between the two countries has been maintained and (3) whether the explanation for this difference is still valid.