José Manuel Durão Barroso
| Author | José M. Magone |
| Date | 01 June 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200506000222 |
| Published date | 01 June 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Movers & Shakers |
MOVERS
&
SHAKERS
José
M. Magone
José
Manuel Durâo
Barroso
A
political scientist in the world
of
European
Union
politics
FROM
REVOLUTIONARY
ACTIVISM
TO
ACADEMIC
EXCELLENCE
The
nomination of
José
Manuel Durâo Barroso to the presidency of the
European Commission was regarded as a major surprise by many com-
mentators. The unexpected nomination by the council of the European
Union emerged out of the need to agree on a candidate who would be
accepted
by all member-states.
This
young politician was born on 23 March 1956 in Lisbon. He is mar-
ried to Margarida Sousa Uva and is the father of three children: Luis,
Guilherme,
and Francisco, who are
21,18
and 16 years old respectively. He
spent his childhood and school years
under
one of the last authoritarian
regimes
of
western Europe. The regime of Antonio Salazar and, later on, of
Marcelo
Caetano shaped the commitment of Barroso to democratic values
and freedom. Indeed, as a reaction to the maltreatment of one of his teach-
ers by the regime in his last years of high school, he joined the illegal anti-
fascist
Revolutionary Movement
of
the Party
of
the Proletariate
(Movimento
Revolucionàrio
do
Partido
do
Proletariado,
MRPP),
which was founded in
1970
as a Maoist-Leninist splinter
group
of the Portuguese Communist
José
M.
Magone
is
senior
lecturer
in the
department
of
politics
and
international
studies,
University
of
Hull.
He has
published
extensively
on
Portuguese
and
Spanish
politics.
Among
his
most
recent
publications
are The Developing Place of Portugal in the
European Union (2004) and Contemporary Spanish Politics
(2004).
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