Title   A Junta Nacional de Emigração e a Política de Emigração no Estado Novo (Original)
          The National Emigration Board and Emigration Policy in the Estado Novo (EN)
Author  Ivete Sobral dos Santos
Advisor  Maria Fernanda Rollo
Year  2014
Institution Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Nova University of Lisbon  
Degree  Phd
Area  Contemporary History
Keywords  Estado Novo, Emigration policy, Junta Nacional da Emigração
URI http://hdl.handle.net/10362/13089

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze Portuguese emigration policy from the perspective of the economic coordination body—the National Emigration Board (Junta Nacional da Emigração (JNE))—created on October 28, 1947, in an international context favorable to the management of migration issues by state institutions. Beginning in the late 19th century, when departures from the territory became a political issue, the paper identifies the evolutionary process that led to its creation and defines the policing and oversight nature of its intervention in emigration. The legacy of the monarchy and republic is also considered, both in terms of legal measures and administrative practices, to determine the continuities and particularities brought by the dictatorial regime regarding its stance on emigration during the 1930s. Created at a key moment of affirmation and maturation of the dictatorial state's intervention in national economic and social life, but also during a period of national instability in the immediate post-war period, the paper analyzes the political and socioeconomic factors, the objectives and governmental indecisions that led to its creation, as well as its institutional structure. In this sense, the process that granted the JNE a monopoly on organizing the emigration process is identified, which includes a reformulation of the role of emigration intermediaries, notably the removal of travel and passport agencies from the emigration business. To understand the various national and foreign economic and political interests at play (maritime, colonial, agricultural, and industrial lobbies, as well as the Portuguese colony in Brazil), this article seeks to identify the logic inherent in defining emigration conditions and the administrative mechanisms that combine national interests and immigration policies, as well as the role and actions of the JNE in identifying illegal practices. From this perspective, we sought to understand how the National Emigration Service viewed opportunities to sign an emigration agreement, which presented itself as a guarantee of optimal emigrant protection. Special attention is also given to the management methods adopted by the JNE for emigrant transportation, as well as the role and concerns of national shipping companies involved in this business, amidst the international maritime and air competition of the 1950s and 1960s. Within the context of emigration to European countries in the 1960s, we sought to identify the position adopted by the JNE. The aim is to observe the turbulent flow of Portuguese emigration to France within the context of other European migration flows, particularly to the Federal Republic of Germany, to understand the processes of selection and recruitment of the workforce in order to understand the nature of the relationships established between the various institutions linked to these functions, and to analyze the debates provoked by the temporary suspension of emigration in April 1967. Finally, the process of reformulation of emigration policy with Marcello Caetano in power is highlighted, as well as the administrative and institutional changes that led to the replacement of the JNE by the National Secretariat of Emigration in 1970.