Consenso, pacto e reforma na dinâmica política do liberalismo oitocentista português

Portuguese liberalism, introduced in the first quarter of the 19th century and consolidated in the Constitutional Monarchy that would last until 1910, revealed a predominant historical evolution bumpier than smoother, more violent than consensual, rougher than pact-based, more revolutionary formist, more centrifugal than centripetal. Notwithstanding this, in important moments of the 19th century, five different projects or periods, with specific agents and events, did try to materialize exceptions to that given general rule, promoting a political dynamic grounded in consensus, pacts and reformisms, in a country too often used to work through confrontation, rupture and revolution. The key purpose of this text is to explore the Portuguese 19th century, stemming from that general setting and these five exceptions, and contrasting national political life with the best potentialities acclaimed by 19th century liberal theory.