Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 1,3, , language: English, abstract: Nobody could have thought when on Thursday, April 25, 1974 in Lisbon, shortly after midnight the catholic Rádio Renascença played the song Grandola Vila Morena, it would lead to such consequences. The song was the signal for the young military officers of the Movimento das Forcas Armadas (MFA) to carry out the plans for a coup d’état. Only minor resistance from the security police occurred, so that by late morning the crowds were flooding the streets, cheering the soldiers, and putting carnations in the barrels of the rifles. The coup was efficiently and successfully and still on the same day, the deposed dictator Marcello Caetano surrendered to the new military leaders and already the next day flew into exile. This coup d’état marked the death of the oldest, over 40 years old dictatorship in Europe, lead by António de Oliveira Salazar (Ferreira, 1986). On the one hand marked April 25 the beginning of transition to democracy in Portugal and later even lead to a consolidated democracy. On the other hand this day marked the beginning of the third wave of democratization. The fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the breakdown of the Latin American authoritarian regimes followed after Portugal brought the ball rolling. And the snowball effect influenced many other authoritarian regimes in the world to democratize as well. States like Spain, Brazil and Hungary were to follow the example of Portugal. It is the aim of this paper to analyze what the causes were, that lead to the revolution, how the process of the transition occurred and what the consequences of April 25 were.

The Democratic Coup d'État advances a simple, yet controversial, argument: democracy sometimes comes through a military coup. Covering coups that toppled dictators and installed democratic rule in countries as diverse as Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, and Colombia, the book weaves a balanced narrative that challenges everything we knew about military coups.

Where Did the Revolution Go? considers the apparent disappearance of the large social movements that have contributed to democratization. Revived by recent events of the Arab Spring, this question is once again paramount. Is the disappearance real, given the focus of mass media and scholarship on electoral processes and 'normal politics'? Does it always happen, or only under certain circumstances? Are those who struggled for change destined to be disappointed by the slow pace of transformation? Which mechanisms are activated and deactivated during the rise and fall of democratization? This volume addresses these questions through empirical analysis based on quantitative and qualitative methods (including oral history) of cases in two waves of democratization: Central Eastern European cases in 1989 as well as cases in the Middle East and Mediterranean region in 2011.

"Revolutions are relatively new, rare and extraordinary events in history, which is perhaps one reason why historians and social scientists alike continue to be surprised and fascinated by them. Although this interest goes back to at least the early modern revolutions in England (1640-1660) and the Netherlands (1568-1648)"--

In Turkey: The Pendulum between Military Rule and Civilian Authoritarianism, Fatih Çağatay Cengiz explains Turkey’s trajectory of military and civilian authoritarianism while offering an alternative framework for understanding the Kemalist state and state-society relations.

"Is Democracy in Decline? is a short book that takes up the fascinating question on whether this once-revolutionary form of government--the bedrock of Western liberalism--is fast disappearing. Has the growth of corporate capitalism, mass economic inequality, and endemic corruption reversed the spread of democracy worldwide? In this incisive collection, leading thinkers address this disturbing and critically important issue. Published as part of the National Endowment for Democracy's 25th anniversary--and drawn from articles forthcoming in the Journal of Democracy--this collection includes seven essays from a stellar group of democracy scholars: Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Thomas Carothers, Marc Plattner, Larry Diamond, Philippe Schmitter, Steven Levitsky, Ivan Krastev, and Lucan Way. Written in a thought-provoking style from seven different perspectives, this book provides an eye-opening look at how the very foundation of Western political culture may be imperiled"--