The concept of the
Corporate State developed under the context of
Fascism in
Mussolini's
Italy as a means of regulating
industrial relations[?]. The theory divided society into a limited number of
corporations. This
collectivism then functioned as a means of control and a channel for government intervention. Theoretical underpinning came from the
medieval traditions of
guilds and craft-based economics.
A similar ideal, but based on bottom-up individual moral renewal, inspired Salazar to work towards a corporate state or corporatism in Portugal.