The organization of Spain: Ideology, territory and representation in the state of autonomies

Abstract

The consolidation of regional power has weakened the integration of the Spanish party system. Yet there are no studies that explore whether the transformation of the relationship between national and regional power in the Spanish party system is reflected in the preferences of parliamentary elites. This chapter fills this empirical gap in the literature in two ways. First, it introduces a descriptive analysis of the preferences of national and regional MPs regarding issues related with the territorial model of the State. Second, it tests a series of hypotheses on what factors may account for the internal (within-party) variation in preferences on the territorial organization of the State among MPs of the two most important statewide parties, PP and PSOE.