Portugal as a European periphery

Abstract

This chapter discusses the trajectory of the Portuguese economy in the European framework during the last few decades. Within this context, Portugal’s peripheral position is taken as a most relevant fact. Due to the heterogeneity of their internal organisation, and the relations they establish within the pluri-national space of which they are a part, European peripheral economies are dependent economies. The peripheral condition of Portugal is persistent and has assumed diverse forms. Geography — the country’s distance from the great centres and dynamics of the most powerful capitalisms — is not enough to determine that condition. The most frontal and dramatic moment of encounter with its peripheral condition happened when Portugal became involved in the construction of the Economic and Monetary Union and became a member. Portugal has embarked on a process of recovery that has enabled the reconstruction of certain dimensions of well-being and expectations and diminished the quantitative gaps suffered by the employment system and growth indicators.