The discussions on the overseas administrative reform in Portugal (1950-1967)

Abstract

This article analyses the discussions on the possibilities of applying the principles of Public Administrative reform studied at the Metropolis to the overseas territories. This analysis begins in the 1950s, focusing on the logics of economic planning and ends in 1967, when the Secretariat for Administrative Reform is created, the first body responsible for coordinating the reform. Being an innovative study on a topic not yet analysed by historiography, the investigation relied on extensive archive documentation. These are kept, mostly, by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Environment, which keep, respectively, the archives of the organizations responsible for studying the administrative reform and the archive of the economic planning. The article also uses a wide variety of printed sources published by the analyzed bodies.