Portugal faces the challenge of rebuilding faith in democratic institutions while delivering on citizens' rising expectations, fifty years after dictatorship.
As a late democracy, Portugal occupies a unique position in Europe’s democratic landscape, having consolidated its democratic institutions and welfare state amidst the age of misinformation and populism.
Portuguese citizens simultaneously rely on and question their state institutions, producing a society caught between dependence and doubt.
Author's summary: Portugal's democracy faces a paradox of trust and doubt.