CESNOVA

• Paulo Patrício Caldeira Pereira da Silveira e Sousa
• Paulo Jorge Chalante Azevedo Fernandes
• Jorge Miguel de Melo Viana Pedreira
• Fernando José Grave Moreira
• Carlos Dardé (Universidade da Cantábria)
• João B. Serra
• Maria Manuela Tavares Ribeiro (Universidade de Coimbra)
• Maria Antónia Peña Guerrero (Universidade de Huelva)
• María Sierra (Universidade de Sevilha)
• Miguel Martorell Linares (UNED)
• Fernando Catroga (Universidade de Coimbra)
• Javier Moreno Luzón (Universidade Complutense)

This project aims at a comprehensive, systematic, empirically grounded analysis of the social configuration and political profiles and pathways of Portuguese deputies, peers and senators in the Liberal period (1834-1926). From an innovative - both diachronic and comparative - approach, it covers Constitutional Monarchy (1834-1910) and the First Republic (1910-1926). Basic trends and significant variations in either political regime will be identified, and continuities and discontinuities in almost a century of liberalism will be assessed. While targeting a group of more than 3,500 parliamentarians, it is intended to produce an accurate and detailed study, providing the scientific community with new data and new interpretations. Such broad goals will be implemented through the establishment of a large prosopographic database. This will enable to single out the characteristics of each legislature - a methodological orientation that is another important feature of the project. The database will include a wide range of background variables, organized in two major categories: (i)socio-demographic: birthplace; age; social origins; nobility status; academic credentials (level of education, fields of specialisation, places of university training); main occupation and employment status (private or public); (ii) political: partisan attachment; political office positions held prior to and after entering Parliament; duration of parliamentary careers; territorial stability and linkages of parliamentary representation; turnover; political endogamy; affiliation to interest organizations. Quantitative analysis of parliamentary elite composition will be stressed. Qualitative dimensions of parliamentary representation will likewise be scrutinised - e.g., the evolution of the formal structure of opportunities (electoral laws, elegibility criteria, district magnitude), the role of local notables and of parties in selecting candidates, and the contemporary perceptions (literary, political, iconographic, etc.) of Parliament, and of parliamentarians and their performance. To this end, a wide variety of sources - novels, biographies, political essays, electoral manifestos, political correspondence and newspapers - will be examined. The understanding of the Portuguese case will be enhanced through systematic, timebound comparison with Spain in the «Restauración» period (1875-1923). This will be carried out in close cooperation with Spanish historians.

FCT: POCI/HAR/58007/2004