The International Conference "40 years after April 25,1974: the crisis of liberal democracies" is a joint organization of three Portuguese educational and  research Institutions: DCP&PP (Department of Politics and Public Policy Science) and CIES-IUL (Research and Studies Centre in Sociology), both belonging to ISCTE-IUL (Lisbon University Institute), the IHC-UNL (Institute of Contemporary History, NOVA University of Lisbon) and the CES-UC (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra) with scientific organization conducted by Fernando Rosas (IHC-UNL), André Freire and José Manuel Leite Viegas (DCP & PP and CIES-IUL, ISCTE-IUL) and José Manuel Pureza.

In the year  we celebrate  the 40th aniversary of the  Portuguese Carnation Revolution (April 25, 1974), that initiated the so-called "third wave of democratization"  worldwide and the transition to democracy in Portugal (after 48 years of dictatorship), the International Conference "40 years after  April 25,1974: the crisis of liberal democracies" has two main goals.

On the one hand, it  aims to be a sort of academic memory of the transition to democracy in the last 40 years. On the other hand, using the contribution of the various Social and Political Sciences and Humanities (History, Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Sociology, Philosophy) and combining comparative and historical approaches, this conference aims to reflect on the various indicators of crisis of European liberal and representative democracies (technocratic governments with unclear popular mandate, partisan governments ruling without a political mandate of its actions, consecutive and deep violations of election pledges by elected governments/ political parties, a huge compression of social rights against the will of the people, etc..), at least after 2008, when the biggest financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression (1929) struck down.

The Conference will have an opening session  (with two opening keynote conferences) and five academic/thematic panels, and a final panel with representatives of political parties represented in the Portuguese Parliament. In the  five scientific/thematic panels, half of the papers will be presented by guest speakers chosen by the scientific organizers of this meeting and the other half by researchers that  responded to this call for papers, after being selected by the same scientific organizers.

Registration & Information: Ines_Gloria_Lima@iscte.pt