Born in Porto, Portugal, in 1944, he headed the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (IEEI), of which he is a co-founder, from 1981 to 2007.

Over the past ten years, he has been much involved in the coordination of EuroMeSCo, the 50-member strong Euro-Mediterranean network of foreign and security policy research centres which constitutes a confidence-building measure and provider of expertise in the first chapter of the Barcelona Process.

As well as being a regular columnist in the Portuguese and international press, he is author and co-editor of many books, articles and reports, notably in the areas of EU common foreign and security policy and on the theme of world order, such as Portugal: A European Story, La PESC: Ouvrir l’Europe au Monde, The European Union, Mercosul and the New World Order, and A European Strategy for the Mediterranean.