The Portuguese “Estado Novo” and the studies regarding administrative reform (1965-1969)

Abstract

In the mid-1960s Portugal, a focus is placed on studies regarding the national Public Administration and its relation to economic development. In 1965, Working Group No. 14 was created within the Commission for Planning and Economic Integration, which would remain active until 1969. Subdivided into five subgroups, this organisation was responsible for the most profound studies on the Portuguese Public Administration carried out during the “Estado Novo”. Consequently, the Secretariat for Administrative Reform would also be created in 1967.
The analysis of its largely unpublished reports shows that the conclusions of Working Group No. 14 were due to the studies that had been made since 1950 and they were also responsible for the decisions taken in the reform program presented in 1968. The agenda for each subgroup reflects the priorities assigned to the reform of the Central Administration since the previous decade: the conditions of public servants, the problems of organization and methods, the administrative reform and its relations with the process of economic and social development.
Using the documentation produced by the five subgroups, this article intends to focus on the studies developed by Working Group no. 14, to unveil its main conclusions and their impact on the process that would give rise to the bases of the Administrative Reform program presented by the “Estado Novo” in 1968.