Portugal, Cold War International Law, and the Refugee Convention
Acronym: POLITIC
Abstract
This project seeks to investigate the ways in which Cold War politics shaped Portugal’s accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention in 1960, fourteen years before the Carnation revolution marked the country’s break from authoritarian rule. While scholars have examined the relationship between the Cold War and Portugal’s membership in the NATO alliance, the context of its accession to the Refugee Convention remains largely uncharted. This is visible not only in the literature on the Estado Novo, but also in the scholarship on Cold War international law, part of which has explored how the Cold War shaped international refugee law.
Seeking to address this gap, POLITIC will investigate Portuguese governmental acts (1958-1960), as well as the legal and political works of key mainland Portuguese authors and figures from the colonies (1950s-1974). The project has three main objectives:
1. To understand better the relationship between Portugal’s accession to the Refugee Convention and the Cold War;
2. To shed light on the relationship between authoritarianism, the Cold War and the Refugee Convention;
3. To contribute to debates on the legacies of the Cold War in contemporary times.
POLITIC has the potential of producing ground-breaking research on the unexplored question of how the Cold War shaped the Portuguese accession to the Refugee Convention. It also integrates an original component in its research, namely the relationship between authoritarianism, the Cold War, and the Refugee Convention, something that remains underexplored in the literature on Cold War International Law.
The primary sources will be gathered mainly through archival research. These sources will be analyzed based on a theoretical framework that draws on critical international legal scholarship. Such an approach is best suited for achieving the project’s main objectives, which all share a focus on the relationship between Cold War geopolitical rivalries and international law, something that legal positivism alone cannot capture.
In this sense, the primary sources will be approached as potential textual repositories of international legal language and argumentative practices that are related to the operation of power relations. More specifically, the project approaches international law as a means through which geopolitical confrontation could be given meaning and expression, as well as an instrument that gave shape to the Cold War.
POLITIC’s main working hypothesis is that Cold War geopolitical rivalries have shaped in significant ways colonial Portugal’s turn to the Refugee Convention in 1960. Another hypothesis is that the Portuguese authoritarian regime could embrace a Convention ratified mainly by liberal-democratic regimes because it secured its colonial agenda, as much as it secured the colonial agenda of other European members of the Western bloc.
The project is crucial for understanding better the trajectory of the liberal international order during the Cold War and its legacies today. Unpacking liberalism’s past and present contradictions, including its relationship with authoritarian regimes, the project will underscore the imperative of taking liberal promises more seriously. This is perhaps one of the most important yet complex challenges of our time, with the rise of far-right parties.
The research conducted within this project is expected to lead to a co-authored publication in an international peer-reviewed journal. Research will be propelled by six webinars, which will also serve as platforms for disseminating information on the project. Prior to submission of the final draft for publication, an international and multidisciplinary conference will be organized on ‘Liberalism, Authoritarianism and Cold War International Law’.
Research will be conducted by a team of three investigators, including the PI, and a hired postdoctoral fellow. The team members have extensive expertise in migration and refugee studies, human rights and interdisciplinary approaches. They are all members of the NOVA Refugee and Migration clinic, which is coordinated by the PI. They have all published in international peer-reviewed journals and have professional experience in competitive international settings.
The team will be supported by four consultants (three legal scholars and a historian), who are all internationally recognized scholars in the following main areas : Portuguese politics during the Cold War (Luís Rodrigues), the relationship between the Cold War and international refugee law (Robert Barsky), the legal aspects of Portuguese colonialism (Cristina Nogueira da Silva) and authoritarianism (Günter Frankenberg).
Coordinator
NSL
PI
Prof. Veronica Corcodel
Duration: 18 months
Total Budget: 50.000€