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. Portugal: A peaceful coun...
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. Cores
Portugal: 9th position
Score: 1.481
Politically stable and free from civil unrest since the mid-1980s, Portugal is the highest-ranked southern European country in the Global Peace Index. Relations with neighbouring countries are very good and the level of violent crime is very low, although human rights accord less respect than the top-ranked eight countries in the index. Other measures of safety and security in society, such as the likelihood of violent demonstrations, the level of distrust in other citizens and the number of internal security officers and police per head of population are fairly low in global terms, but notably higher than the Nordic countries surveyed. Access to small arms and light weapons is heavily restricted.
A founding member of NATO, Portugal spends a relatively small percentage of its GDP on the military. There are fewer heavy weapons per head of population than the Nordic nations, although more than in Japan. Portuguese soldiers have participated in the UN peacekeeping mission in Angola since 1995. In 2003 the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) supported the US-led war in Iraq, in keeping with Portugal's Atlanticist tradition, and sent a small paramilitary force, although the decision was opposed by the Socialist Party (PS). The troops returned to Portugal in February 2005, shortly before the general election, when their mandate expired.