Municipal and local power in portuguese classical literature

Abstract

In Portugal, the municipality (or county) and its administrative control scales and territory are the product of a process remotely consolidated and built over centuries; however, it is controversial still in terms of legislative determination, as reframed by recent Law 11-A, which in 2013 established the ‘aggregation of freguesia’. This paper seeks to discuss the terms municipality and municipalism as concepts and the political-administrative practices established in a given territory, in this case Portugal, to allow its redevelopment as a product of social cohesion or conflict of interest. The theoretical framework is limited to classical Portuguese literature and its main scholars: Henriques Nogueira, Alexandre Herculano and Marcelo Caetano. Theoretical foundation is limited to the classical Portuguese literature and its main scholars: For these, the history of Portugal, from its origins, is directly linked to the institution of the municipality, the subject addressed in this article.