Kathleen Schwartzman’s study of the first Portuguese republic aims to demonstrate the ways in which a nation’s social and political structures are shaped by its position in the global economy. In May 1926, a military coup ended Portugal’s first turbulent 16-year experiment with democracy. During that period no fewer than 45 prime ministers and an equal number of coalition cabinets failed to solve the nation’s economic and political problems. Portugal and its far-reaching colonial empire exerted tremendous international influence during the 17th and 18th centuries. Its subsequent decline as a sea power, military defeats, the gradual loss of its colonies and an inability to compete with industrializing nations, however, left it stranded outside the core of the world economy. Schwartzman aims to show how the collapse of the First Portuguese Republic resulted from its marginal place in the world economy, a highly fragmented domestic economy, the failure to forge a social compromise between classes and the inability to create stable political coalitions. This study, aims to enhance our understanding of why some democracies and more fragile than others and, thus, more vulnerable to authoritarian takeover.