The author tries to delineate the development of the Portuguese political culture since the Republican Revolution from 1910. Differentiating between (political) culture and political-systemic culture and integrating his concept of political culture in the worldsystems approach of Immanuel Wallerstein he comes to the conclusion, that the semiperipheral status of Portugal in the modern world-economy system combined with the inability of the political elite to build-up a democratic political-systemic culture prevented a development towards democracy and participation among the Portuguese population until today. This could be a danger for the further development of the contemporary Portuguese political system, which hasnt until now overcome many of the structural problems to create a more democratic society.
