USA – Portugal Relations: Foreign Policy and Ideology | Relações EUA – Portugal: Política Externa e Ideologia

Foreign policy strategies are often the product of a delicate balance between ideology and pragmatism. Through the analysis of three moments of critical juncture — the clash between the Kennedy Administration and the Estado Novo Regime, the eventful early years of the Portuguese democratic transition and the 2003 Lajes Summit which preceded the invasion of Iraq — this paper explores the balance between idealism and pragmatism which characterizes contemporary US – Portugal relations. The analysis of these three moments suggests that while both nations have resorted to ideological, sometimes messianic, claims (as evidenced by the idea of American exceptionalism of Portugal’s “universal vocation”) as narratives of legitimation, the pragmatic approach has eventually prevailed.