The development of intelligence and internal security institutions in Portugal and Brazil were directly influenced by the ways in which both countries transitioned to democracy and by the nature of their political regimes prior to the mid-1970s. This article compares these processes, highlighting how Brazilian and Portuguese intelligence and public security institutions and bodies developed over the course of the 20th century, and in particular following democratization of their political regimes. Our analysis examines the main factors explaining the arrangements adopted, and the obstacles and dilemmas encountered in the institutionalization of these services and of the new democratic regimes. The results suggest that the type of transition to democracy is the main factor explaining differences between the two cases. However, more comparative research is needed to deepen empirical and theoretical understandings and to allow for greater generalization about the relationship between changes in political regimes and reforms of coercive and intelligence institutions.

A longa duração e o gradualismo da transição para o regime democrático no Brasil permitiram que esse processo fosse objeto de diferentes abordagens, constituindo assim um caso privilegiado para a verificação de hipóteses a respeito da "terceira onda" de democratizações. O objetivo central deste artigo é o de analisar a transição brasileira, a partir de 1974, relacionando-a com a forte inflexão nas perspectivas analíticas sobre mudanças de regime político verificada na última década.

The long duration and the gradual character of the Brazilian transition to democracy have made this process the object of study taken up from various perspectives, and has thus turned it into a privileged case for the verification of hypothesis regarding the "third wave" of democratization. The main objective of this article is the analysis of the Brazilian transition, which starts in 1974, relating it to the strong slants present in the analytical perspectives on regime change that have been formulated over the last decade.

Le long parcours et la graduation de la transition vers le régime démocratique au Brésil ont permis que ce processus soit l'objet de différentes approches ce qui constitue un cas privilégié pour la vérification d'hypothèses concernant la «troisième vague» de démocratisations. L'objectif principal de cet article est d'analyser la transition brésilienne depuis 1974 tout en la mettant en relation avec la forte inflexion dans les perspectives analytiques des changements de régime politique qui s'est produite au cours de la dernière décennie.