http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8475-9609
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ABSTRACT
This paper explores state-economy relations in an understudied European country, i.e. Portugal. Main research questions are: How does the country fit into the Varieties of Capitalism conceptual framework? Are there specific patterns that define the case as a distinct model of statist economy? The research is influenced by Becker's open, historical institutionalist approach to capitalism (Becker, U. 2009. Open Varieties of Capitalism. Continuity, Change and Performances. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan). The paper offers a macro-account of major transformations in state ownership, in democratic Portugal, followed by analysis of state-economy relations at a sectorial level, namely in the waste management sector. Findings suggest that Portuguese capitalism has evolved from statist socialism into a formally liberalised economy but, in reality, it re-configured into a model of state-dependency perpetuated by the allocation of vast external resources. From large-scale owner to large-scale privatizer, the state adjusted its role as a large-scale aggregator.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express great appreciation to Joana Barreto for insightful, stimulating and always well-timed research assistance. The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Any errors that remain are the authorś sole responsibility.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Ana Maria Evans is FCT Research Fellow – Starting Grant – at Nova Information Management School (Nova IMS), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and coordinates the FCT Project IF/00827/2013/CP1169/CT0001, ‘Governance Models and the Delivery of Public Services: Political Influence and Corporate Performance’. Ana’s major research interests are in the areas of Institutions and Development; Public Institutions and Governance; E-Government; Public Sector Innovation; Collective Strategies of Industrial Development in Small Firm Sectors. She has published in international venues in the fields of Comparative Politics, Business and Politics, Public Policy, and e- Government. Ana has also worked as an evaluator for a number of international funding agencies, namely the European Commission, the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Council for European Studies (Mellon Pre-Dissertation Fellowships in all Social Sciences and Humanities), and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Ana completed a Ph.D. in Government (with distinction) at Georgetown University, U.S., in 2003, a Master of Arts in International Relations, at the University of San Diego, U.S., in 1993, and a Licenciatura in Law, at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in 1991.
Pedro Verga Matos is Associate Professor at ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics & Management (Universidade de Lisboa) and researcher of CSG/Advance – Research in Social Sciences and Management. Pedro holds a PhD in Business and Management Studies from Universidade do Porto, an MBA and a Master in Management from Nova School of Business and Economics (Univeridade Nova de Lisboa), and a Licenciatura in Economics from Catolica Lisbon – School of Business and Economics (Universidade Católica Portuguesa). His research interests include corporate governance, public and private partnerships (PPP), social innovation/microfinance, retail and multicriteria analysis. His research has been published in academic journals including the Economic Modelling, Applied Economics, Journal of Business Research, Group Decision and Negotiation and Journal of Product & Brand Management. Pedro is currently member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.
Vítor Santos is an Assistant Professor at NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS), Universidade Nova de Lisboa and at European University. Vítor teaches ‘Information Systems,’ ‘Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Compliers’ and ‘Digital Systems’ courses in Computer Science and Informatics Engineering Degrees. Before that, he was an invited Professor at Trás os Montes e Alto Douro University (UTAD) and Minho University (UM). Vítor integrates numerous international conferences scientific committees and has authored several academic publications (∼100) (>40 IS projects). Vítor is an elected member of the Portuguese Order of Engineers and of the board of the Portuguese Association for the Development of Information Society. He was the Microsoft Portugal Academic Computer Science Program Manager for eight and a half years. Before that he occupied senior management positions at Santander bank and developed Computer Engineering activities for about 15 years. Vitor holds a Ph.D. in Science and information and Technology Systems from University of Minho, a B.Sc. in Informatics Engineering from Cocite, a Postgraduate course in Computer Science from Science Faculty of Lisbon University, a M.Sc. in information Systems Science from University of Minho, a D.E.A. from University of Minho and a Computer Specialist title from polytechnic institutes Guarda, Castelo Branco and Viseu. He is working in a second PhD in Culture and Communication.
ORCID
Ana Maria Evans http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8475-9609
Pedro Verga Matos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6737-2656
Vítor Santos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4223-7079
Notes
1 The Varieties of Capitalism concept became widely adopted in the comparative capitalism literature since Hall and Soskice’s (Citation2001) seminal book. For VOC approaches to the determinants of the Eurozone crisis, see Hassel (Citation2014) and Royo (Citation2014).
2 The Council of the Revolution was established in 1975 by the Movement of the Armed Forces and featured in the 1976 Constitution. Its mission was to advise the Presidency and to guarantee that the programme of the Movement of the Armed Forces was implemented, as well as to guarantee that institutions complied with the 1976 Constitution.
3 Breweries (!) were also nationalised, due to ownership by large industrial and banking Portuguese groups. Law n° 46/77, de 8 de Julho was subsequently enacted to prohibit private economic activity in most of these sectors.
4 In 1973, seven groups – namely CUF, Espirito Santo, Champalimaud, BPA, Borges & Irmão, BNU and Fonsecas & Burnay – controlled more than 300 firms and nearly all the banking system (Sousa & Cruz, Citation1995). For a more detailed analysis, see Ribeiro, Fernandes, and Ramos (Citation1987) and Silva et al. (Citation2016).
5 See Costa et al. (Citation2010, p. 273) for a detailed explanation of the actors involved in the creation of these banks.
6 Later, some of these state supported Portuguese private groups were sold to foreign investors, either by strategic option or financial difficulties or other factors (e.g. family conflicts). This happened, for example, with large players in banking and cement.
7 For a more detailed analysis of these corporate networks, see Silva and Neves (Citation2014).
8 Interviews with former Enviroment Ministers and Secretaries.
9 Interviews with former Enviroment Ministers and Secretaries.
10 Interviews with former administrators of EGF, current and former executive and regulatory office holders overseeing the sector, and environmental NGO representatives.
11 See Decreto-Lei n° 266/81, de 15 de Setembro. For example, the second largest city in Portugal, Porto, and its adjacent municipalities had formed a municipal association already in 1982 and the latter directly managed waste treatment. There were other developing forms of inter-municipal coordinaton in the early nineties, namely the Associação de Municípios do Planalto Beirão, Associação dos Municípios de Coimbra-ERSU, Associação de Municípios de Vila Real, Municípios da Região do Algarve.
12 Interviews with administrators of inter-municipal systems and with former administrators of EGF.
13 Interviews with former Ministers and Secretaries of the Enviroment and with former regulatory office-holders.
14 Ibid.
15 The multi-municipal systems created in 1996 were Sistema do Vale do Minho (VALORMINHO), Sistema do Vale do Lima e Baixo Cávado (RESULIMA), Sistema do Cávado (BRAVAL), Sistema de Santa Maria da Feira e Vila Nova de Gaia – SULDOURO, Sistema do Litoral Centro (ERSUC), Sistema da Alta Estremadura (VALORLIS). The Sistema da Margem Sul do Tejo (AMARSUL) was created in 1997. Four other systems were created later – Sistema do Oeste (RESIOESTE), Sistema do Baixo Tâmega (REBAT), Sistema do Alto Tâmega (RESAT), Sistema do Vale do Douro Sul (RESIDOURO). The three latter ones would merge subsequently into RESINORTE.
16 Interviews with former Ministers and Secretaries of the Enviroment and with former regulatory office-holders.
17 Interviews with former Ministers and Secretaries of the Enviroment and with former regulatory office-holders.
18 Interviewees point out that inter-municipal firms in densely populated regions where effective waste management was critical to comply with supranational benchmarks were an exception to this statement.
19 Interviews with former Ministers and Secretaries of the Enviroment and with former regulatory office-holders.
20 Interviews with former administrators of EGF.
21 Interviews with former Ministers and Secretaries of the Enviroment and with former regulatory office-holders.
22 Interviews with former Environment Ministers and Secretaries.
23 Interviews with former Ministers and Secretaries of the Enviroment and with former regulatory office-holders.
24 Specifically, the Decree-Law n° 379/93 which forbade a majority of capital.