Using the concepts of the collective action and actors with interests and the assumption that the poor relief and health care field was politically defined since the early modern period, this paper has two main purposes: on the one hand, to analyze the construction of the Portuguese assistance system, identifying its lines of continuity during the Ancient Regime. On the other hand, to evaluate the reasons why the Crown of the 16th century was more efficient when compared with the governments of the second half of the 18th century, in terms of reform of the social structures and implementation of a new paradigm of assistance. In both cases, taking into account the differences between the political and social contexts of those two moments.
poor relief and health care policies; early modern period; political intervention