THE NEW DEMOCRACIES - Spain and Portugal: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 62

(although the latter did not care for his labor policies). A temporary
cease-fire was reached with the Basque militants in 1998 but had col-
lapsed by late November 1999, and political violence accelerated,
steadily approaching the level of 1,000 deaths since 1969. Despite end-
ing the century as the leader of 40 million Spaniards who enjoyed a
new sense of prosperity and respect in Europe, Aznar could not hope
for ultimate success until the Basque problem was settled. He might
have a renewed mandate in the democratic process that had now estab-
lished itself firmly in his country, but ballots were still incapable of
defeating bullets.
THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY IN PORTUGAL:
1975-2000
Portugal's dictator, unlike Franco, made no provision for a designated
successor and the improvisational nature of Caetano's regime never
allowed it to be seen as more than a transition to an unknown future.
Amid the confusion that followed the Carnation Revolution of 1974,
many Portuguese may have wished that they had not been so eager to
discard the monarchy back in 1910. There was no king available to
provide the balance and disinterested patriotism the situation required.
Perhaps it was Portugal's long association with Great Britain that
enabled the country to adopt Britain's well-known tactic of somehow
muddling through crises. After several years of attempted coups, quar-
relling generals, communist threats, and regional upheavals, the Portu-
guese republic emerged in the early 1980s intact and confident.
Although the constitution adopted in 1975 seethed with antifascist
rhetoric, the extreme Left won surprisingly few votes in the 1976 elec-
tions. Despite an initial program of nationalization in banking, insur-
ance, and some aspects of industry, as well as the expropriation of
certain landed property, most of these manifestations of marxism were
repealed by 1986. The military, which had reached a strength of more
than 200,000 in the last days of the dictatorship, sank to little more
than 60,000, and the capacity of those who remained for domestic mis-
chief making had disappeared. Portugal had arrived at essentially the
same middle ground attained by Spain in the 1980s, having evaded the
dangers of counterrevolution from the Right and unrestrained radical-
ism from the Left.
Mário Soares, the Socialist leader who had provided desperately
needed good sense as prime minister during the most critical period,
moved on to the presidency, the first civilian to occupy that post in 60
years. His party evolved a practical collaboration with the Social Dem-