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→Government and Society of Portugal
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Advances in technology and telecommunications have speeded the transformation of Portugal’s finance and business sector. Historically, the extension of fixed telephone lines in Portugal was slow; as a result, many individuals have adopted cellular phones, making Portugal among Europe’s early leaders (by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the country had 1.4 mobile phone subscriptions per person) in per capita mobile phone use. The cellular phone market is intensely competitive. Portugal has implemented reforms in its telecommunications sector that favoured liberalization and privatization. Internet use grew dramatically in the late 1990s and early 21st century, though computer use in Portugal remained low compared with that of most other EU countries. | Advances in technology and telecommunications have speeded the transformation of Portugal’s finance and business sector. Historically, the extension of fixed telephone lines in Portugal was slow; as a result, many individuals have adopted cellular phones, making Portugal among Europe’s early leaders (by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the country had 1.4 mobile phone subscriptions per person) in per capita mobile phone use. The cellular phone market is intensely competitive. Portugal has implemented reforms in its telecommunications sector that favoured liberalization and privatization. Internet use grew dramatically in the late 1990s and early 21st century, though computer use in Portugal remained low compared with that of most other EU countries. | ||
==Government and | ==Government and politics of Portugal== | ||
'''Constitutional structure''' | |||
Portugal is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, as defined by the constitution of 1976, with separation of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The president, who is chief of state and is directly elected to a five-year term, appoints the prime minister and council of ministers, according to assembly election results. There is also a council of state, which is a presidential advisory body composed of six senior civilian officers. The unicameral assembly of the republic (Assembleia da Republica) has 230 members who are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. Following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president. Suffrage is universal to those aged 18 years of age and over. | |||
Portugal uses the civil law legal system, also called the continental family legal system. Until the end of the nineteenth century, French law was the main influence. Since then the major influence has been German law. The Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of legislation. Portugal accepts compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction with reservations. | |||
The national and regional governments, and the Portuguese parliament, are dominated by two political parties, the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party. Minority parties CDU (Portuguese Communist Party plus Ecologist Party "The Greens"), Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc) and CDS-PP (People's Party) are also represented in the parliament and local governments. | |||
'''Foreign relations''' | |||
The foreign relations of Portugal are linked with its historical role as a key player in the Age of Discovery and the holder of the now defunct Portuguese Empire. It is a member of the European Union (since 1986) and the United Nations (since 1955); as well as a founding member of the European Union's Eurozone, OECD, NATO, and CPLP (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa—Community of Portuguese Language Countries). The only international dispute concerns the municipality of Olivença (Olivenza in Spanish). Under Portuguese sovereignty since 1297, the municipality of Olivença was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, after the War of the Oranges. Portugal claimed it back in 1815 under the Treaty of Vienna. Nevertheless, bilateral diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries are cordial, as well as within the European Union. | |||
'''Military of Portugal''' | |||
The armed forces have three branches: Army, Navy, and Air Force. The military of Portugal serves primarily as a self-defense force, and providing humanitarian assistance. Since the early 2000s, compulsory military service is no longer practiced. The age for voluntary recruitment is set at 18. In the twentieth century, Portugal engaged in two major military interventions: the First Great War and the Colonial War (1961-1974). Portugal has participated in peacekeeping missions in East Timor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Nasiriyah), and Lebanon. | |||
'''Administrative divisions''' | |||
Portugal has an administrative structure of 308 municipalities (Portuguese singular/plural: concelho/concelhos), which are subdivided into more than 4000 parishes (freguesia/freguesias). Municipalities are grouped for administrative purposes into superior units. For continental Portugal the municipalities are gathered in 18 districts, while the islands have a regional government directly above them. Since 1976, the main classifications have been either mainland Portugal or the autonomous regions of Portugal (Azores and Madeira), since 1978. The autonomies have regional governments that are constituted by the regional government president and by regional secretaries. The Portuguese territory was reorganized in accordance with a system of statistical regions and subregions known as N.U.T.S. (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) that are the basis of the statistical system of information for the entire European Union. | |||
==Culture of Portugal== | ==Culture of Portugal== | ||
==History of Portugal== | ==History of Portugal== | ||