Despite the analysis on emotions hasn’t been explored yet regarding Portuguese foreign policy (FP), this issue seems to provide some interesting elements for research. Since the regime change in 1974, its main features are clear, encompassing Europe (EU, other IOs), the Atlantic (NATO, US), and post-colonial relations (CPLP), each of these being responsible for more economic and political, defense, or cultural policies. The alleged great continuity since 1974 and the political consensus between most political parties among those priorities ensured that issues such as emotions were swept under the carpet and deemed irrelevant.
Nevertheless, we argue that emotions are a substantial part of the public positions regarding FP. Both resorted to by politicians, decision-makers, or the civil society/public opinion, emotions are relevant both when it comes to strategic, long-term decisions as well as specific and concrete international issues. Used either to legitimize some policy options versus different ones, or to involve decision-making actors and the society in a particular way, they play a subtle and yet crucial role in FP.
In this paper, we seek to identify the main moments in Portuguese FP since 1974 where different emotions we particularly central. We aim to detect if those emotions, in the different cases, were either ignited by the political elites (government, political parties, etc.) or by the public opinion or the civil society. We also tried to differentiate between strategic decisions or momentary events and issues. Additionally, we tried at all times to maintain a connection to the specific moral, political, legal and social problems of a given FP issue or priority with the strategies employed and the emotions present in such a setting.
Regarding the methods used, we combined both the instruments and approaches of the Foreign Policy Analysis sub-field, centred in the decision-making actors and dynamics, with a more constructivist theoretical framework, as to allow different strategies to collect and analyse data, and also develop an assessment of how the actors involved perceive and define their very foreign stance. The main sources used shall be the historical research through secondary bibliography and, when needed, documental analysis. The study uses a qualitative and comparative approach, and the focus on different and the most easily identifiable case studies may contribute to some generalizable conclusions regarding the Portuguese case. Despite being a very short introduction on an issue rarely even mentioned in Portuguese FP, our study points out to (1) the use of emotions when an issue is contentious, (2) the changes over time regarding emotions on a given issue, but (3) a somewhat continuity of emotions regarding different yet similar events, as well as clarifying the remaining questions exposed above.