Within the context of the analytic framework developed for this book, the Portuguese case warrants particular attention. Seen from the vantage point of 1991, Portugal's current political leaders can look back over the last two decades with considerable pride. For in a comparatively short period of time and despite a previous history of nearly half a century of authoritarian rule (1926–74), followed by revolutionary upheaval (1974–6), they have successfully consolidated a democratic regime. Institutionally this particular regime can be characterized as a semipresidential, parliamentary system. Within it, displacing earlier patterns of personalist civilian and military rule, stable institutional roles have evolved in which the main participants are the president, the prime minister and his cabinet, and deputies serving in the National Assembly organized by party affiliation according to parliamentary blocs.

Yet if the definitions established in the first chapter are followed rigorously, it should be made clear that democratic rule has come to Portugal through neither elite settlement nor elite convergence. The revolution that swept across Portugal in 1974 destroyed the old order and left instead a badly divided country that has precluded either form of elite agreement. At the same time, these particular concepts of elite settlement and convergence provide a framework in which a sequence of events producing democratic outcomes can be captured in such a way as to bring a fresh perspective to the comparative analysis of democratization.