ABSTRACT
If the consolidation of democracy consists mainly in a process of ‘freezingadaptation of modes of peaceful conflict-resolution’,1 we may tend to expect major problems produced by the proliferation of parties at the subnational level: fragmentation of political forces, increased conflictiveness, eventually polarization between them within the regional ambit, which could translate into a major fragmentation and even segmentation of the national party system. Such a party system, divided by centre-periphery cleavages, might also lead to instability and a lack of legitimacy of a new democracy.2
