| Summary: | This article questions the idea that the territorial structure of political partieswill always tend to be similar to that of the state in which they operate. Inthe first place, from a theoretical point of view and as a basis for a discussionof the literature pertaining to the study of party comportment, the argumentis made that the effect of extra-party factors on their comportmentis conditioned by factors within the parties, such as the degree of cohesionwithin the organisation’s dominant coalition and its capacity to attain themain organisational objectives. In second place, from an empirical perspective,the article provides qualitative evidence reinforcing the main argument.Data presented in the article confirms not only that parties do not necessarilyreact to changes in the territorial structure of the State in the way predictedby the literature, but also that two party organisations operatingwithin the same political system may react differently to changes in theirenvironment
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