The special issue explores government, party system and political attitudes as dimensions revealing Portugal’s exceptionalism during its post-bailout period (2015–19). It shows that government stability was greater in Portugal, no party system revolution took place and political trust recovered more quickly than in the other countries. In contrast, Portugal is not dissimilar from the other South European cases regarding the prevalence of populist attitudes, even though populist actors did not achieve electoral success before 2019.
