International party solidarity can be seen as a strategy to support and encourage a successful democratization process. This paper presents a case study on the importance of the international and transnational support given to the Portuguese political parties by their West German counterparts. In particular, we will focus on the case of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Christian-Democrat Union (CDU) and their affiliated political foundations (Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Konrad Adenauer Foundation), and the support they gave to the establishment of the Portuguese Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, PS) and the Social Democratic Center (Centro Democrático e Social, CDS), before and after the Carnation coup of 25th April, 1974. The fast commitment of the German agents resulted in intense international activity, through political influence, monetary and material aid, and moral and doctrinal support. Although the international support of the PS is somehow well known, the main innovation in this paper is that we will disclose information on the Christian-Democrat activity during the Portuguese revolutionary process. This paper is based on archive sources, from both Portuguese and German archives.

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Democratização,Partidos Políticos,Solidariedade internacional partidária,Promoção da Democracia