[1] Fighting three guerrilla movements for more than a decade proved to be enormously draining for a small, poor country in terms of labour and financial resources.
During Salazar's tenure, Portugal participated in the founding of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1961.
In the early 1960s, Portugal also added its membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank.
[4] Portuguese economic growth in the period 1960 to 1973 under the Estado Novo regime (and even with the effects of an expensive war effort in African territories against independence guerrilla groups), created an opportunity for real integration with the developed economies of Western Europe.
Through emigration, trade, tourism and foreign investment, individuals and firms changed their patterns of production and consumption, bringing about a structural transformation.
Simultaneously, the increasing complexity of a growing economy raised new technical and organizational challenges, stimulating the formation of modern professional and management teams.
[5] When Salazar was incapacitated in an accident in 1968, the Council of State, a high-level advisory body created by the Constitution of 1933, chose Marcello Caetano to succeed him.
[1] As Caetano promised reform but fell into indecision, the sense began to grow among all groups—the armed forces, the opposition and liberals within the regime—that only a revolution could produce the changes that they felt Portugal sorely needed.
[1] As the first major and public challenge to the regime by a high-ranking figure from within the system, Spínola's experience in the African campaigns gave his opinions added weight.
[1] On 25 April 1974, a group of younger officers belonging to an underground organization, the Armed Forces Movement (Movimento das Forças Armadas – MFA), overthrew the Caetano regime, and Spínola emerged as at least the titular head of the new government.
[1] Because the regular police withdrew from the public sector during the time of revolutionary turmoil and the military was somewhat divided, COPCON became the most important force for order in the country and was firmly under the control of radical left-wing officers.
[1] Spínola formed a second provisional government in mid-July with army Colonel (later General) Vasco Gonçalves as prime minister and eight military officers along with members of the PS, PCP, and PPD.
[1] Spínola's position further weakened when he was obliged to consent to the independence of Portugal's African colonies, rather than achieving the federal solution he had outlined in his book.
[1] The PCP was highly successful in placing its members in many national and local political and administrative offices, and it was consolidating its hold on the country's labor unions.
[1] In addition, smaller, more radical left-wing groups joined with the PCP in staging huge demonstrations that brought about the increasing adoption of leftist policies, including nationalizations of private companies.
[1] In response to this attack from the right, radical elements of the military abolished the Junta of National Salvation and formed the Council of the Revolution as the country's most powerful governing body.
[1] In mid-July, the PS and the PPD withdrew from the fourth provisional government to protest antidemocratic actions by radical military and leftist political forces.
[1] The sixth provisional government was formed, headed by Admiral José Baptista Pinheiro de Azevedo; it included the leader of the Group of Nine and members of the PS, the PPD, and PCP.
[1] On this day, under the pretense of a left-wing takeover of a radio station,[citation needed] Colonel António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes declared a state of emergency[1] and sent loyal commandos to seize the city of Lisbon.
[1] The communists' ability to institute its goals had diminished without the support of the military,[citation needed] and people returned to their jobs and daily routines after eighteen months of political and social turmoil.
[1] A degree of compromise among competing political visions of how the new state should be organized was reached, and the country's new Constitution was proclaimed on 2 April 1976, paving the way to the termination of the provisional governments and of the Ongoing Revolutionary Process.
Elections for the presidency were held in June and won easily by General António Ramalho Eanes, who enjoyed the backing of parties to the right of the communists: the PS, the PPD, and the CDS.
Failure to fix the economy, even after adopting a painful austerity program imposed by the International Monetary Fund, ultimately forced the PS to relinquish power.
The PS, which had also formed an electoral coalition with several small left-wing groups, suffered a drubbing and won only 27.4%, a large drop compared with 1976 results.
Francisco Sá Carneiro became prime minister in January 1980, and the tenor of parliamentary politics moved to the right as the government attempted to undo some of the revolution's radical reforms.
Another important change reduced the president's power by restricting presidential ability to dismiss the government, dissolve parliament, or veto legislation.
Although the AD government had achieved its main objective of amending the constitution, the country's economic problems worsened, and the coalition gradually lost popular support.
He was fortunate in that external economic trends and the infusion of funds from the European Community after Portugal became a member in 1986 enlivened the country's economy and began to bring an unaccustomed prosperity to Portuguese wage earners.
Confident therefore that his party could win in parliamentary elections, Cavaco Silva maneuvered his political opponents into passing a vote of censure against his government in April 1987.
The strong mandate would enable Cavaco Silva to put forward a more clearly defined program and perhaps govern more effectively than his predecessors.