Out of the mist of memory: the almost forgotten history of the coordination institutions for the administrative reform in Portugal (1967-1974)

Abstract

This article traces the structure of the organizations responsible for the coordination of the administrative reform created by the Portuguese “Estado Novo” between 1967 and 1974. Following the international concern regarding the development of efficient public administrations directed towards economic growth, Portugal showed, at the end of the 1960s, a greater awareness of the need for an administrative reform. As such, the “Estado Novo” created the conditions for the development of a technical coordination institution responsible for this reform, respond ing to a fifteen-years-old request. Initially designated as Secretariat for the Administrative Reform, this agency would be succeeded by two others within seven years, and the changes in their designations would correspond to variations in their structure and scope. These institutions show, perhaps for the first time, a political decision regarding the development of an administrative reform in Portugal. However, their history seemed hopelessly lost due to the disappearance of their archives. In order to solve this problem, this article is based on a broad documental research that crosses historical sources of central archives with parliamentary debates, legislation, periodicals, speeches and other publications, as well as contemporary television newscasts. Crossing several historical sources, this investigation made it possible to reconstruct part of the structure of these organizations, highlighting the regime’s efforts to improve the efficiency of Public Administration in a context of growing challenges to its own maintenance.