The focal point of this project is the comparative history of the statebuilding process of Portugal, associated with its positioning in global history, which presupposes particular attention to its international integration (external relations). The context of analysis is that of the Portuguese monarchy of the Old Regime, which, after 1640, entails a reflection of its multi-continental dimension, progressively associated, in particular, with its territories in the Atlantic. The core of the analysis is based on the study of the relations of power and the political communication mechanisms of the monarchy, in connection with the social structuring, mobility and reproduction processes of the elites, on a scale that involves a great diversity of contexts and territories.

With this central theme, the project, thus, intercrosses an enormous diversity of objects of analysis, well translated in the author's publications, in many cases in collaboration with other researchers, about various elite groups (such as the first nobility, the municipal elites, the clergy, the diplomats, the governors of the empire), about political and central social spaces (such as the court), as well as about peripheral spaces (region of Rio de Prata). The diversity of methodologies, from the biography of individuals (King D. José, 2nd Duke of Lafões) to the prosopography and reconstitution of families, is not, therefore, incompatible with the unity and coherence of the discussed and studied problems. In addition, the chronological contexts are not very rigid, with the possibility of backtracking to the end of the Middle Ages and extending right up until present day (study on surnames). Likewise, the spatial contexts are also not rigid, extending from the comparative analysis of the Iberian elites, for example, until the analysis of the impact of the reform policies in 18th century Brazil.