Tiago Fernandes, Nova University, Lisbon and COSMOS, Center on Social Movement Studies, European University Institute - Florence
Abstract: It has been argued that the degree to which revolutions lead to differences in the depth of democracy resides in the nature of the initial revolutionary coalition. Specifically, the broader the revolutionary coalition – the more it includes a varied set of subordinate social classes and political/military groupings - the higher are the prospects for an inclusive democratizing outcome. But less research has been devoted to understanding the causes of varying revolutionary coalitions. This essay aims to fill this gap, by comparing the origins of modes of coalition-building between revolutionary elites and popular groups during the Portuguese revolution of 1974-75.
