Portuguese Emigrants and the State: An Ambivalent Relationship

Abstract

Since the nineteenth century Portugal has been a country of emigration. As a result of this continuous outflow, estimates indicate that the number of Portuguese citizens and their descendants living in another country is between 2 and 4.8 million. Their main countries of residence in the Americas are the United States, Brazil, Canada and Venezuela; in Europe, they live mainly in France, Switzerland and Germany. Taken together these seven countries host 80 per cent of all Portuguese living abroad. After a brief description of Portuguese emigration history, with a special emphasis on current emigration flows and the development of Portuguese communities in different host countries, the chapter will analyse the relationships that Portuguese citizens abroad maintain with their country of origin. Special attention will be given to Portuguese political institutions and the legal framework built to mould the connections that Portuguese emigrants maintain with the Portuguese State. As will be shown, the Portuguese State and its political elites have, particularly in recent decades, manifested discomfort in dealing with contemporary emigration flows and Portuguese communities abroad. This attitude towards emigration has led to an ambivalent position held by both the Portuguese State vis-à-vis Portuguese citizens living in other countries and emigrants towards their homeland.