"La “misteriosa” muerte de la UCD. : El factor territorial en la configuración del sistema político español"

This article discusses how the configuration of the political system at the begin-ning of democracy was deeply related to the intensification of territorial political dynamics and demands for self-government. In order to highlight the importance of this factor, too often underestimated in analyses of the political configuration, we analyse the part less apparently affected by territoriality, as is the case of the Spanish political right. Using new sources generated by UCD government ministries and state apparatuses and combining them with more traditional press sources, the aim is to shed new light on how the government dealt with the creation of the State of Autonomies and to what extent it determined the development and implosion of the governing party. Methodologically, in this sense, the work departs from analyses centred only on the internal political dynamics of the UCD elites, to carry out a multi-level analysis that places territoriality at the analytical core, also taking into account, dialectically with the development of the centrist party, the actions of the other political forces in the same field. The paper concludes that the strength of regionalism and plurinationality was key in the development and configuration of the Spanish political system.