West Germany and the Portuguese Dictatorship, 1968–1974: Between Cold War and Colonialism

by Rui Vieira Lopes

West Germany and the Portuguese Dictatorship, 1968–1974 examines West Germany's ambiguous policy towards the Portuguese dictatorship of Marcelo Caetano (1968–1974). It tells the Cold War story of how the emblematic governments led by social democrat chancellor Willy Brandt came to deal with Western Europe's oldest authoritarian regime and most persistent colonial empire. Drawing on extensive primary research, Rui Lopes sheds new light on the social, economic, military, and diplomatic dimensions of the awkward relationship between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Caetano regime. His work contributes to a more informed and nuanced discussion of both countries' recent history and international politics. He also analyses, for the first time, the complex interaction between Cold War détente, Ostpolitik, and Portugal's colonial wars against the liberation movements of Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau.

291 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2014

About the author

RUI MIGUEL VIEIRA LOPES é licenciado em História Moderna e Contemporânea, especialização em Ciência Política e Relações Internacionais, pelo ISCTE (2006), pós-graduado em História Contemporânea, pela Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2007) e doutorado em História Internacional (2011) e pós-graduado em Ensino Superior (2012), pela London School of Economics.
É investigador de pós-doutoramento, com o projecto Portugal na ficção audiovisual dos aliados democráticos do Estado Novo, investigador integrado do Instituto de História Contemporânea, no grupo Cultura, identidades e poder (IHC-FCSH/UNL) e membro do conselho editorial da revista Práticas da História.