The Party Politics of Territorial Reforms in Europe

This article develops a comprehensive and dynamic framework for analysing the party politics of territorial reforms in Europe (and beyond). The main focus is on explaining the strategy of political parties on the issue of territorial reform, by which is meant the position taken on, and the salience given to, the issue of how to allocate powers and resources across levels of government. The premise is that political parties can follow an electoral, ideological and territorial logic of action when deciding their strategy. The article distinguishes between the main drivers and argues that the choice of logic by political parties will be determined by the relative weight of strategic incentives, on the one hand, and ideological and organisational constraints, on the other. The framework also highlights the importance of contextual effects such as the polity’s institutional arrangements and the influence of time in the process of territorial restructuring, evident in the different moments of territorial reforms and the occurrence of feedback effects between them.