Political parties abroad as actors of transnational politics

Abstract

This paper argues that parties abroad are the actors of a new arena for citizenship and party politics. The proliferation of overseas voting and the development of representative institutions for emigrants has transformed and reinforced the civic and political links between sending-states and their diaspora. This has also created new opportunities for political entrepreneurs and political parties tasked with reaching out to citizens living abroad. Yet research on political parties and on transnationalism has almost never crossed paths. This has created a gap in our knowledge on political parties abroad, demonstrating the timeliness of a special issue on political parties abroad. This paper introduces this special issue and presents an overview of the main theoretical questions and debates addressed in the articles. We emphasize existing gaps in the literature and stress the importance of a better understanding of the growing phenomenon of political parties abroad. We also explain why a comparative approach is necessary to tackle the issue of political parties abroad, offering a theoretically-minded framework. Our summaries of the papers in this special issue highlight how they relate to the more general questions discussed in our introduction.

Political Professionalization Beyond National Borders: An Analysis of Italian MPs in Overseas Constituencies

“…In recent years, scholars have demonstrated a growing interest in the political representation of emigrant communities. A significant portion of the literature has primarily concentrated on the analysis of parties operating abroad (van Haute & Kernalegenn, 2021), their activities (Friedman & Kenig, 2021;Paarlberg, 2021), their membership (Burgess & Tyburski, 2020;Collard & Kernalegenn, 2021), and their organizational features (Kernalegenn & van Haute, 2020). Furthermore, a second body of literature has directed its focus towards the representation of communities abroad.…”

Political Parties Abroad. A New Arena for Electoral Politics

“…It is only recently that a burgeoning literature has begun to focus on the partisan dimension of emigrant politics (Kernalegenn & van Haute, 2020;Rashkova, 2020) (Østergaard-Nielsen et al, 2019). We also see some research emerging on the organizational development of parties abroad, as well as studies on their role and functions (Collard & Kernalegenn, 2021;Friedman & Kenig, 2021;Gauja, 2020;Gherghina & Soare, 2020b;Jakobson et al, 2021;Kernalegenn & Pellen, 2020;Piccio, 2020;Siotos, 2020;Uekami et al, 2020;von Nostitz, 2021).…”

Transnational voting rights and policies in violent democracies: a global comparison

“…Burgess, 2020;Østergaard-Nielsen & Ciornei, 2019). Although the diaspora has long been a source of financial support for numerous political parties in countries around the world, the rise of transnational voting entails parties campaigning abroad for not only campaign donations, but also votes, requiring new research on "political parties abroad" (Kernalegenn & van Haute, 2020;Rashkova, 2020;van Haute & Kernalegenn, 2021). Additionally, non-resident citizens may influence the vote choices of family and friends back home (Paarlberg, 2017).…”