The "Estado Novo" was one of the longest-surviving authoritarian regimes in Europe. Opposed to communism, socialism, anarchism, liberalism and anti-colonialism, the regime was conservative, corporatist, and nationalist in nature, defending Portugal's traditional Catholicism. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a pluricontinental nation under the doctrine of lusotropicalism, with Angola, Mozambique, and other Portuguese territories as extensions of Portugal itself, and it being a supposed source of civilization and stability to the overseas societies in the African and Asian possessions. Under the "Estado Novo", Portugal tried to perpetuate a vast, centuries-old empire with a total area of , while other former colonial powers had largely already acceded to global calls for self-determination and independence.