Encenar a nação — a diplomacia cultural do Estado Novo português através dos Centros de Informações de Genebra e Roma

Abstract

This article examines the efforts of Portuguese cultural diplomacy abroad in the aftermath of World War II. Drawing on the concept of soft power theorised by Joseph Nye, the research focuses on the first Portuguese Information Centres, in Geneva and Rome, created by the Portuguese Minister in these cities, António Ferro. Drawing mainly on unpublished documentary sources from the National Secretariat for Information fund in the National Archive, the aim was to shed light on its organisation, its relationship with central government, and to examine the activities undertaken and the results achieved. The working hypothesis was that the Centres functioned in a logic of defence of the nation, part of a strategy to «seduce» a post-war democratised Europe, confronted with the Portuguese dictatorship, which persisted in maintaining a Colonial Empire