Muddling through? No, thank you very much.

Posted by Carlo Marques on 8 May, 2017 4:33 pm

Presumably, Portuguese should be proud of their ability to muddle through last-minute problems. 

José Pereira
Class of 2012

This competitive advantage is hypothetically coded in our DNA and appears to be the reason we have been able to adjust to work in developing countries, at institutions and processes still at an early stage. I have also heard that we are meant for “for big events.” The kind of things that were said during the Expo 98 or the UEFA Euro 2004. As if having to think about the “little things” was a small task or a nuisance. I could never get this appeal of last-minute muddling through. On the contrary, I believe that this is motivated by real mediocrity, and laziness to do proper planning and preparation work. The one time the Portuguese planned a whole process through, it actually kicked-off the globalization process. It took decades and generations, starting in the reign of King John I, years after Aljubarrota, with the discovery of Porto Santo and the conquest of Ceuta.

On the other hand, the beginning of the end probably occurred with King Manuel I’s “brilliant” idea to expel the Jesuits from Portugal to please the Catholic Monarchs – which later was to inspire the massacre of Lisbon in 1506. This means that it wasn’t just the Brazilian gold that was thrown out the window, but also the people that financed and understood the Discoveries’ Masterplan and its role within the country’s development. Many of the persecuted Jews fled to Flanders where they contributed to its commercial and maritime development.

As, during the XIV and XVI centuries, life expectancy would not exceed the 50, and the execution time for plans would be measured in years or decades, projects were surely initiated thinking about the long-term and the continuity of the project during the following generations. Just think of how John II died before Vasco da Gama’s trip to India or Pedro Álvares Cabral’s to Brazil.

We must create our own masterplan now, as this is something long overdue. We should make a plan for Portugal for the next 10, 20 and 30 years, designing the society we want, something that will go on even after us and the following generations.

 

 

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