Forty years on, the 1974-75 revolutionary process in Portugal has become the object of historical interest, after decades of being caught between the poles of celebration and controversy. The commemoration of the Revolution’s fortieth anniversary in 2014 may, in this sense, represent an important landmark in the historical studies of an extremely complex event, with direct roots in the African anti-colonial struggles, close affinities with other European processes of social rebellion, and mobilising many different political ideologies and activists both in Portugal and abroad.

In the last two decades several scholarly works have moved debate about the Revolution on from the memories of those directly involved and into new lines of inquiry, particularly through political history and comparative political science. However, the shift from protagonists to professional historians and other academics has often meant a circumscription of the object of study exclusively to its institutional and military aspects. More recently, research on the Revolution has started exploring new questions, and connecting it to broader processes, establishing stronger international links (particularly in relation to African anticolonialism) and focusing on the everyday of the revolutionary process, its ideas and practices. In this context, this conference will be an opportunity to interrogate the already existing state of the art on the 1974-75 revolutionary process, while simultaneously opening new perspectives on the topic.